Insects play a major role as food for other animals: birds, moles, bats, shrews, toads, lizards, snakes and others.

Some studies have shown that 50-60% of the food consumed by certain species of birds are insects. The actual number of insects eaten varies with the bird species. It is estimated that 100 per day may be an average; but some species of flickers have been found to have over 5,000 ants in their stomachs. Insects are part of many food webs and chains and in some instances they are the primary bases for trophic level interactions in many natural ecosystems.

Mammals such as bears and deer mice also include insects in their diets. Other mammals, like moles, bats, and shrews, are almost exclusively insect feeders. Many species of bats feed exclusively on flying insects and locate them by echolocation. Insect predation by fish and toads is also very extensive: an estimated 40 to 90% of the diet of freshwater fish is of insect origin. Trout, for example, ingest great numbers of aquatic insects during their lifetimes. These dietary habits of trout are the basis for the human activities of fly-tying and fly-fishing.