Herbivore

Herbivore is often defined as any organism that eats plantsDefinitions of herbivore on the Web ^*. By that definition, many fungi, some bacteria, many animals, about 1% of flowering plants and some protists can be considered herbivores. Many people restrict the term herbivore to animals. Fungi, bacteria and protists that feed on living plants are usually termed plant pathogens. Microbes that feed on dead plants are saprotrophs. Flowering plants that obtain nutrition from other living plants are usually termed parasitic plants.

In zoology, an herbivore is an animal that is adapted to eat primarily plant matter (rather than meat). Although such animals are sometimes referred to as being vegetarian, this term is more properly reserved for humans who choose not to eat meat as opposed to animals that are unable to.

Herbivores can be further classified into various sub-groups, such as frugivores, which eat mainly fruit; folivores, which specialize in eating leaves; nectarivores, which feed on nectar; among herbivorous insects and other arthropods, the level of feeding specialization can be far more fine-tuned, including seed-eaters ("granivores"), pollen-eaters ("palynivores"), plant fluid-feeders ("mucivores"), and those specialized to feed on wood ("xylophages") or roots ("rhizophages"). In other animals, the degree of specialization is not so advanced, however, and many fruit- and leaf-eating animals also eat other parts of plants, notably roots and seeds. The diets of some herbivorous animals vary with the seasons, especially in the temperate zones, where different plant foods are most available at different times of year.

There is a misperception that if an animal is herbivorous, it represents less danger to humans than a carnivore (or, sometimes, no danger at all). This is not logically sound; few animals, even carnivores, will seek humans as a food source, but any animal will attack a human if necessary to defend itself. For example, in national parks such as the United State's Yellowstone Park, bison represent significantly more danger to humans than wolves, which are likely to avoid people. Of Africa's Big Five game (a term coined by hunters in Africa to refer to the five most dangerous animals to hunt: Rhinoceros, Leopard, Cape Buffalo, Elephant and Lion), three are herbivores.

Herbivores form an important link in the food chain as they transform the sun's energy stored in the plants to food that can be consumable by other carnivores up the food chain.

Animals that are true herbivores

The following are herbivorous animals in nature. Some will occasionally eat animal parts to address nutritional deficiencies (e.g., deer may eat bones and shed antlers). Most can digest meat in artificial conditions (feedlots) with adaptation, and some will eat meat if they find them helpless and unable to escape (e.g. sheep have been recorded eating newly-hatched birds).

Bovids (such as cows, sheep, goats, buffalo, antelopes, bison, gazelles, and moose)
Horses (including all members of the horse family such as domestic horses, donkeys, and zebras)
Deer
Elephants
Rhinoceroses
Hippopotamuses
Giraffes
Gorillas
Orangutans
Pandas
Some rodents such as guinea pigs, porcupines, beavers, and capybaras
Rabbits and hares
Parrots and macaws
Some finches
Some tortoises and turtles
Grasshoppers, termites, Lepidoptera, and many other insects
Many mites
Some Millipedes
Terrestrial Snails and slugs
Some examples are not immediately obvious: bees are the majority of flowering plant pollinators, and they actually consume most of the pollen they gather; since each pollen grain is technically a functional gametophyte, bees are acting as herbivores, and their role as pollinator is secondary.

External links and references

the herbivore defenses of Senecio viscusus
Burton, N. H. K. (2002). Red Grouse chick eaten by sheep. Brit. Birds 95: 87.
Furness, R. W. (1988). The predation of tern chicks by sheep. Bird Study 35: 199-202.

Eating behaviors

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Animals that are true herbivores

See also

External links and references