What is an herbivore? Animals that only eat plants are called herbivores. Herbivores mostly eat plants to get energy. They need lots of energy to live for example cows, sheep and eat all day long to keep them active. Herbivores have evolved digestive systems which are capable of digesting large amounts of plans. The plants are high in fiber and starch, and they provide the main energy source for the herbivores as they need lots of energy.
We can classified herbivores into four groups
- Frugivores
- Granivores
- Nectivores
- Folivores
Frugivores
mostly eat raw fruits. Approximately 20% of the mammalians are frugivores and they eat fruit. Frugivores not only eat fruits they also eat leaves and seeds, but they mostly eat fruit. Some frugivores are Chipmunk, Chimpanzee, Lemur, Gibbon.
Granivores
Granivores are also known as seed predation as they eat seeds. Most of the granivores are birds such as Parrot, Finches, Quail & Doves.
Nectivores
The species that eat honey are called nectivores. Most of the birds are nectivores in addition there are some insects that are nectivores.
Folivores
Folivores are the species that eat plants as their major food. Elephants, sloths, some monkeys are folivores. Join us to find out some animals that only eat plants.
Animals That Only Eat Plants
Deer
Is deer herbivore? Yes, deer is an herbivore as the main diet of a deer is plants including fruits, nuts and twigs, weed, mushrooms, and moos. A deer usually ear approximately two pounds of plants a day. The digestive system of a deer isn’t that good. A deer can’t eat over food as this can cause enterotoxemia. Different types of deer have different diets. Also, you will be surprised to know that some deer eat meat like other herbivores but this is a very uncommon behavior of a deer.
Classification of deer:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Pecora
Family: Cervidae
Cow
Cows are examples of herbivores. The main diet of a cow are plants. Cows eat plants and get energy from them. The stomach of a cow is different from other animals. Their stomach is made of four parts and they have different rules to process the food for the cow.
The digestive system of a cow can only process plants. If you feed cow meat they might get sick. The unique digesting system made them great herbivores.
The key reason cows are herbivores:
- Their digestive systems are designed for digesting grass and foliage
- Their teeth are dull and designed to process plants, not tough meat.
Classification of cow:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Bovinae
Genus: Bos
Species: B. taurus
Elephant
The main diet of an elephant are roots, grass & fruit. An adult elephant can eat up to 300 pounds of food in a day which is necessary for its huge body. An elephant doesn’t sleep that much as they need to have a large amount of food for their huge body. African elephants are the biggest elephant in the plants. Asian elephants are also big but they are slightly smaller than African elephants. An elephant can live up to 70 years and the estimated weight of an elephant is around 2.5 tons. For their diet habit elephants are considered an herbivore.
Classification of an elephant:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Elephantidae
Subfamily: Elephantinae
Goat
We are all familiar with goats as they are domestic animals. Also, most of us are also aware of the food habit of a goat. The main food of a goat is green grass. This is enough to make a goat herbivore. Some of the mountain goats eat mosses besides grass but still, they are herbivores. Gots stomach is the same as a cow with 4 chambers.
Domestic goats can be found all over the world, but the mountain goat can be found in the Rocky Mountains in Alaska, western Montana, South Dakota, Colorado & Washington.
Classification of a goat:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Caprinae
Genus: Capra
Species: C. hircus
Horse
Horses are naturally grazer and their main diet is grass hay or haylage. They must consume lots of fiber to keep their digestive tract working and they must eat little and often, almost all day long. People usually keep the food bucket near their horse as they eat after sometimes a wild horse can graze for 15-17 hours per day. Now we can say that horses are herbivores.
Classification of a horse:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Equidae
Genus: Equus
Subgenus: Equus
Species: E. caballus