Mammals are herbivores. Herbivores - a list with examples and names. Examples of omnivores

I will answer the question, but I want to note that many animals themselves do not seem to know what they are supposed to eat. Here is my cat, for example. She, of course, eats cat food, but she is passionate about melon, carrots and guinea pig food. And from raw meat turns up his nose. Go explain to her that she is a predator.

What are the animals

Nature is arranged in such a way that living organisms want basically three things: to live, to eat, to multiply.

As for nutrition, the diet of animals can be very different. But traditionally, animals according to the type of food are classified into three groups:

• carnivorous;
• omnivorous;
• herbivorous.

When divided into groups, the basis of the diet is taken into account. Random and rare vegetable snacks do not make predators omnivores. Even obligate predators (like cats) can sometimes eat plant foods.

This also applies to herbivores. Cute horses and deer are quite capable of eating a small animal or bird. And female placental mammals eat the placenta after giving birth.

Animals are carnivores

Carnivorous animals usually mean those who eat meat. But scientific classification also distinguishes the order Carnivora (Carnivora), which include mammals of different families and species. Some of them can be both omnivorous and... herbivorous!

I will give as an example not only species from the order Carnivora, but a variety of animals that are united by a love of meat.
Eat food of animal origin:

• ferrets, minks, ermines;
• all kinds of cats;
• daytime predator birds(falcons, hawks, eagles, etc.)
• owls;
• seals;
• many sharks.

Animals are herbivores

If you're a mouse and you're stepped on by a chewing elephant... well, it happens.

Plant foods are eaten:

• rabbits;
• Guinea pigs;
• elephants (African, Indian);
• many artiodactyls (giraffes, deer, antelopes);
• all kinds of camels.

And many others. Nature is cruel and dangerous, but still not every inhabitant of it seeks to kill and eat someone. Which is very comforting.

What animals eat plants, you will learn from this article.

What animals eat plants?

Green plants play a very important role in the life of animals. Let us draw your attention to the fact that they can carry out the process of photosynthesis. It plays an important role because during its implementation, the radiant energy of the sun, in interaction with the simple chemical components of air and water, turns into complex elements that the plant feeds on. That is, they provide their own food. But animals can't do that.

They get the energy they need to live by eating plants or animals that eat plants. Thus, without flora there would simply be no life on the planet. Most of the animals are herbivores.

Who are herbivores?

Herbivores are animals that eat only food. plant origin: grass, leaves, branches and fruits of trees. The best known herbivores are ungulates such as: horses, cows, goats, sheep, camels, roe deer, deer and so on. Hares, giraffe, koala, panda and the like also eat grass.

Such animals differ from each other in shape, size, color and speed of movement. But you can see that they have a lot in common, for example, slender, long and muscular legs with hooves that are perfectly adapted to rocky, hard surfaces. They also help animals to easily overcome long distances, hiding from attacking predators or looking for new pastures. Therefore, a characteristic feature of many herbivores are hooves.

The largest herbivore is the elephant. Its weight can be more than one ton. Some types of elephants weigh up to 5 tons. They consume large quantities of tree leaves and grass. For example, Indian elephants they can spend up to 20 hours a day searching for food. But the amount of food that an elephant can absorb per day ranges from 150 to 300 kg of a variety of plant foods. In addition to tree leaves and grass, elephants can eat bark. They scrape it off with their molars, holding a branch with their trunk.

When I first came to the plateau East Africa, I was amazed by the huge number, variety of their shapes and sizes. Herds of zebras and wildebeests ran and rolled like the waves of the sea, and nimble gazelles rushed and jumped in all directions.

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Bubals, which differ from other antelopes in their slender body and elongated head, are powerful elands weighing up to half a ton. Bongos, small dik-diks, little more than a hare, elephants, zebras, hippos, rhinoceros along with a unique wildlife created an amazing, incomparable world.
herbivores they differ from each other in size, shape, color and speed of movement, but they also have much in common, especially long, slender and muscular legs with hooves perfectly adapted to hard, rocky surfaces. They allow animals travel long distances in search of new pastures or quickly hide from attacking predators. Hooves - feature many herbivores.
Some ungulates literally balance on one hoof, in fact, even on one finger. Horses, donkeys and zebras, belonging to the equine family, have lost their original four fingers during their long development, and today these animals have only one left on each foot. At huge rhinoceros from the genus Rhinocerotidae, each foot has three toes. Both genera belong to the order of equids.

Other herbivores, including gazelles and antelopes, retained two or four fingers, protected by a strong hoof. These animals belong to the order of artiodactyls. These include the hippopotamus, which has four toes with hooves on each foot, and warthogs, which manage to walk either on four toes, or only on two inner ones, depending on the terrain over which they move. And yet, it is not so easy to include animals in the orders of equids or artiodactyls, depending on whether the number is even or odd number toes on their feet. For example, in South America and in India there are tapirs, which, with their heavy body, look like pigs, but are not related to them in any way; they have nothing in common with elephants, despite the fact that their upper lip elongated into a soft and mobile short trunk. Although they have four toes ending in hooves on their front feet, they are odd-toed ungulates. This example confirms that the number of fingers is not decisive in determining the squad. The main thing is whether the axis of the limb passes through the third finger, that is, through the odd one (odd-toed ungulates), or whether it passes between the third and fourth, that is, between two fingers (artiodactyls).
It should be taken into account that " herbivores”, that is, consumers of plant foods, include not only ungulates. So, among mammals there are a lot of small species, especially rodents that feed on plants and are not at all like antelopes or zebras with their slender legs. The amazing African aardvark (or Cape Town takaru) also lives in Africa - a representative of an independent order of aardvarks. Hyraxes - the smallest ungulates - forming one genus with seven species, have family ties with equids and proboscis. In size, they are no larger than a rabbit and resemble a groundhog without a tail.

Many ungulates, especially males, have horns or horns. The legs of these animals are perfectly adapted for rapid movement on grassy terrain. In their development, an equally important role was played by the organs intended for plucking grass and digesting food: teeth, jaws and stomach. Biting off a bunch of strong grass, which is fibrous and sometimes sharp as a knife, is not easy. Therefore, nature had to arm the ungulates accordingly: their incisor teeth grew to such a size that they could “cut” strong herbaceous plants; the fangs almost disappeared or, on the contrary, grew incredibly and turned into protective fangs, as, for example, in a hippopotamus. The molars have become very powerful and help to grind tough fibrous food.

Herbivorous animals eat only food of plant origin. However, many herbivores also include eggs and other animal protein in their diet. This group can be conditionally divided into granivorous (feed mainly on seeds), leaf-eating and frugivorous animals. Also, all herbivorous animals can be divided into two large groups: small and large herbivores.

Small herbivores

Antelope ground squirrel

This group includes rodents, rabbits and hares. Basically they all eat plants, although some will supplement their diet with insects and carrion. Such a diet satisfies both food and water needs. In the desert areas live such small herbivores as antelope ground squirrels, kangaroo jumpers, forest hamsters, black-tailed hares and steppe rabbits. Although most of the mammals in this group are nocturnal, ground squirrels are not afraid of the scorching desert sun. In order to cool off, these rodents can go underground. Antelope ground squirrel can lose up to 13% of moisture per day. Therefore, to compensate for this loss of water, he eats green leaves and drinks dew early in the morning.

Kangaroo jumpers got their name precisely because of the jumping habit. Its only source of moisture is metabolic water, which is obtained through the digestion of plant foods. However, this method of obtaining moisture yields very little water, so kangaroo jumpers must save every drop. The temperature in his nasal passages is much lower than the core body temperature. Therefore, the air that passes through these nasal passages cools and condenses on the mucous membrane, where it is absorbed.

Hare

Unlike rodents, rabbits and hares have two pairs of upper incisors. Rabbits differ from hares in that their babies are born naked and blind, while young hares are born hairy and sighted. Black-tailed hares hide near the base of plants during the day, where the soil and air temperature are colder. They feed on grasses and green parts of plants, as well as branches and bark of trees, cacti. At the same time, animals eat non-stop, as they have a very large need for plant food.

Steppe rabbits prefer to wait out the heat in burrows left by other animals. Basically, their diet consists of cereals, but if necessary, they are able to eat many other plants, herbs, vegetables, and even cacti.

Large herbivores

Okapis, manatees, deer, donkeys, cows, giraffes, zebras, horses, elephants, hippopotamuses and many others belong to a group of large herbivores that receive only some moisture from their plant foods, but unlike small herbivores, need periodic drink.

Hippopotamus

Hippopotamus, or an ordinary hippopotamus, is the only modern look kind of hippopotamus. His diet includes ground grass, which he bites with his keratinized lips to the very root. The hippos are leading semi-aquatic image life, most daylight hours are spent in water. And with the onset of darkness they go to feed. Have amazing ability eat and assimilate the coarsest dried grass, which other animals refuse.

Okapi

The giraffe family includes okapi and giraffes, which are also herbivores. Giraffes feed on the leaves of trees, mainly acacias, capturing them with a long tongue and lips that are not afraid of thorns. The okapi, like the giraffe, feeds on tree leaves. This forest dweller is much smaller than its relative: weight is about 250 kg, body length is 2.1 m, height at the withers is 150-170 cm.

Herbivorous animals occupy a special and unique place in the world of fauna. Since plant foods are very difficult to digest, they have a complex stomach structure, which helps to cope with digestion. Also different special structure teeth, mostly they have a flat crown and a large gap in the jaws. Herbivorous animals have very powerful chewing muscles responsible for grinding hard food of plant origin.

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Who among us has not ridden a horse or seen an elephant in a circus, fed a zebra in a zoo or dreamed of riding a giraffe? Do you know what all these animals have in common? They all prefer the same lunch menu. Such animals are called herbivores or herbivores.

Our huge planet inhabited by a wide variety of animals.

And among such a variety of living creatures, a considerable number of animals are herbivores. Below are articles about various herbivores, in which you can find a lot of interesting things about them.

The European fallow deer is a forest deer. Description and photo of the animal doe

The deer animal is a representative of the deer family. This is a beautiful medium sized deer. The European fallow deer is a graceful, fast and graceful animal. In this article, you can see the description and photo of the European fallow deer, learn a lot of new and interesting things about the life of this wonderful animal.

Animal giraffe is the tallest animal. Description and photo of a giraffe

The giraffe is a mammal from the artiodactyl order. The giraffe is the tallest animal on the planet. The giraffe is a smart and peaceful animal that has been familiar to us since childhood. In this article you will find a photo and description of a giraffe, as well as learn a lot of interesting things about this unique and wonderful animal.

The world around 3 class

Invisible threads in wildlife

herbivores- Animals that eat plant foods.
Insectivores are animals that eat insects.
Predators An animal that obtains food by hunting and killing prey.
omnivores Animals that eat both plant and animal food.

Due to the nutritional habits of different animals, invisible chains are formed in wildlife. Scientists call them food chains.

Read the text carefully.

underline different colors names of animals of different groups: green - herbivores, blue - predators, red - insectivores, brown - omnivores.

With the help of an atlas-determinant, give examples of herbivorous and carnivorous animals (at least three names in each paragraph).
Herbivorous animals: cow, hare, giraffe, zebra, goat, elk, harvest mouse, butterfly
Predatory animals: wolf, lynx, badger, fox, marten, tiger, owl, eagle

Build food chain models.

Make a diagram of the food chains by entering the necessary names of organisms. Take one example from the textbook, and offer another one yourself.

Consider the drawings.

Color the arrows in the appropriate colors:

Explain how these signs help animals survive.
Strong tortoise and snail shell, sharp porcupine quills protect these animals from enemies. The spider weaves its web to catch food, a characteristic feature of the praying mantis is the device of the front pair of legs, armed with strong spikes and used to capture prey, the woodpecker has a strong and sharp beak, the tip of the woodpecker's beak has the shape of a chisel, and like a cutter it is able to penetrate into the very solid wood to earn their own food.

Green plants have the ability to photosynthesis, in which, with the help of the radiant energy of the sun, simple chemical components of air and water are converted into more complex compounds. In this way, plants provide their own food. Animals cannot do this.

They provide themselves with energy by eating plants or plant-eating animals. Therefore, without plants, there would simply be no life on earth. Most animals are herbivores. Often they use only certain types or even plant parts that are better suited for them digestive system. Leaves and stems are mainly composed of a rather coarse substance - fiber, or cellulose. It is difficult to digest, but microscopic bacteria and protozoa that live in the stomachs of many herbivorous animals help to digest the crushed plant food.

manatees

Manatees, like their related dugongs, are mammals that live in the water and feed almost exclusively on plant foods. Because aquatic vegetation in large numbers contains harmful silica that destroys the teeth of manatees, the teeth of these animals are constantly updated. Manatees live in shallow sea waters and in the rivers of the Atlantic coast. West Africa and tropical regions of America.

Okapi

The timid okapi is the only living relative of the giraffe. Okapi was discovered only in 1901. Okapi live in dense tropical forests Central Africa. These animals feed on leaves, which they tear off with a long, up to 50 cm, tongue. Their tongue is so long that they can even lick their eyes. Okapis are very picky eaters and spend a lot of time looking for their favorite leaves, tender buds, fruits or mushrooms. If the opportunity presents itself, they will gladly feast on cassava or sweet potatoes from the garden. long legs and with a sloping back, the okapi is very similar to a giraffe with a short neck. The dark brown fur and stripes on the legs and back of the body are good camouflage in the woods. The height of the okapi at the withers reaches 160 cm, and the weight is up to 230 kg. Males have small horns. Okapis mark their territory, which is several hectares, and fight over females in the same way as giraffes, striking each other with necks. Males and females stay together only during mating.

Females raise their young alone, which stay with their mother for 12-18 months.

hyraxes

These animals look like large rodents, but their closest relatives are elephants. Thanks to the soft soles of the paws and strongly curved claws, they can climb a tree in an instant. The sticky substance secreted by special glands on the paws helps them to hold firmly on the trees. These nightly publishers loud screams mammals live in the forests of Africa. They feed on leaves, ferns, fruits, sometimes insects and bird eggs. Damans usually live in pairs.

Koala

The marsupial mammal animal of Australia, the koala, spends its entire life among eucalyptus trees whose leaves it feeds on. For most animals, eucalyptus leaves are poisonous. However, a special potent gastric juice is secreted in the stomach of the koala, which neutralizes the eucalyptus poison. Since eucalyptus leaves are not very nutritious, in order to stock up on enough vital energy, the koala is forced to consume them daily in huge quantities - about 1.3 kg. Before the adoption of the law on the protection of these animals in Australia, they were very actively hunted for their beautiful fur. At the present time, first of all, diseases, as well as people who invaded their habitat, are to blame for the fact that the number of these animals, which previously amounted to several million, has already decreased to several hundred thousand and, unfortunately, continues to decrease.

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