Is prey a consumer that hunts for its food?

Prey is not a type of consumer but rather an organism that is hunted or captured for food by a predator. Consumers, in the context of ecology, are organisms that obtain energy by consuming other organisms. They can be further categorized into primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary consumers based on their position in the food chain or web. Primary consumers are herbivores that eat plants, while secondary consumers are carnivores that eat primary consumers. Tertiary and quaternary consumers are typically carnivores that occupy higher trophic levels, feeding on other carnivores. Prey, on the other hand, encompasses a wide variety of organisms, ranging from plants to animals, that serve as a food source for predators.