Final answer:
Eating food provides animals with energy for bodily functions, raw materials for growth and repair, substances to control body processes, and helps maintain homeostasis. While digestion can also generate heat, it's primarily for energy, materials, and physiological balance.
Step-by-step explanation:
Eating food benefits an animal in several ways. Firstly, the animal gets energy from the food, which is essential for all bodily functions and activities. This energy comes from the process of cellular respiration that converts nutrients from food into ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the cellular energy currency. Secondly, the animal gets raw materials from the food which are necessary for growth, repair, and the production of cells and their components. Lastly, animals can also get water and other substances from food that help in controlling body processes and maintaining homeostasis.
While not specifically mentioned in the resources provided, it is a known fact that digestion of food generates heat as a byproduct of metabolic processes, which can contribute to an animal's body temperature regulation. However, the primary reasons animals eat food are to obtain energy and building materials, and also to keep the body's processes in balance.