scavenger

3 definitions • 4 examples

a bird or an animal that feeds on dead animals that it has not killed itself:

Most dead birds are picked up by crows or other scavengers.

An urban fox is a harmless scavenger which, when it can't find other sources of food, will prey on small mammals.

someone who collects things that people have thrown away or left somewhere:

She earns her living as a scavenger at the city dump.

Then scavengers came and dug up the metals worth selling.

an animal, bird, or person who scavenges