What factors do animals typically compete for?

Animals typically compete for food, mates, and territory because these resources are crucial for their survival and reproductive success.

Food is necessary to provide the energy required for daily activities and survival, making it a fundamental resource that animals continuously seek. Mates are essential for reproduction; competition for mates can determine which individuals pass on their genes to the next generation. Territory is important as it provides a space for feeding, mating, and raising young. Animals often establish and defend territories to secure access to these vital resources, and competition can arise when individuals overlap in their territory use.

While the other options include important factors, they do not collectively encompass the primary resources that drive competitive interactions among animals as effectively as food, mates, and territory do. For instance, space and sunlight are more relevant to plants, climate is an environmental factor rather than a resource for which animals directly compete, and while nesting sites and water are significant, they are generally considered specific resources rather than the broader categories of competition like mates and territory.