A tertiary consumer is an animal that feeds only on secondary consumers, which are animals that eat primary consumers, mostly herbivores. Tertiary consumers are usually carnivores, and they are at the topmost level in a food chain that feeds on other carnivores. They are on the fourth trophic level in a food chain, and the organisms that prey on and eat tertiary consumers are called quaternary consumers.

In a food chain, energy enters through producers, which are the base of the pyramid, the first trophic level. Primary consumers, mostly herbivores, exist at the next level, and secondary and tertiary consumers, omnivores and carnivores, follow.

Examples of tertiary consumers include owls that eat snakes and lions that eat hyenas.