Herbivorous animals. Herbivores - list with examples and names World of Herbivores

Herbivores or herbivores are animals that eat plant-based foods, including grass, fruits, leaves, roots, bulbs, vegetables, etc. The teeth of herbivores are adapted for grinding plant tissue. Although there are a few herbivores that occasionally eat meat, many do not have the ability to chew or digest animal products. Some herbivores prefer fruits and leaves in their diet, so they are often called frugivores and folivores, respectively.

The diets of herbivores vary depending on, geographical location and time of year. In the animal world, herbivory has some advantages. Unlike , herbivores do not have to hunt for their food in order to consume it. However, some plants protect themselves from animals with thorns or poison.

What are the most common traits of herbivores?

Most herbivores live in groups or herds, meaning they are social. Such animals act as primary consumers, which means that they are prey to carnivores. This is why their eyes are usually located on the sides of their heads. This allows you to see a potential threat approaching without turning your head. They also have a common tendency to get very scared and run fast.

Although there are many herbivores in the world, it may surprise you to know that some of them are huge, have a bad reputation and look like carnivores. In this article we will look at some examples of herbivorous animals, mainly herbivores, as well as their diet.

Beaver

Buffalo

American bison ( Bison bison) - a representative of the bovid family. Despite the fact that in the 19th century these artiodactyls almost disappeared due to European settlers, they now live in national parks and in protected areas. Bison feed on low-growing grasses and are known to graze on the move.

Big panda

Big panda ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca) - a mammal from the family ( Ursidae), native to China. A panda is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black spots around its eyes, on its ears, and across its round body. Although this animal belongs to the order of carnivores ( Carnivora), its diet consists of more than 99% bamboo. Giant pandas V wildlife may sometimes eat other herbs, wild tubers, or even meat, rodents, or carrion.

Hippopotamus

Or common hippopotamus ( Hippopotamus amphibius) - African artiodactyl mammal. Often considered the second largest land animal. The hippopotamus is comparable in size and weight to the white rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum) And Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis). Like other herbivores, hippos eat various plants, however, most of the diet consists of grass.

Other examples of herbivores (plant-eating) animals:

• Order Odd-toed ungulates: donkeys, tapirs, zebras.
• Order Artiodactyls: bulls, zebu, yaks, wildebeest, buffaloes, gazelles, bison, rams, sheep, goats, deer, guanacos, llamas, vicunas.
• Order Lagomorpha: hares, pikas.
• Order Rodents: hamsters, Guinea pigs, chinchillas, porcupines, nutria, maras, squirrels.
• Order Chiroptera: Leaf-nosed the bats, fruit bats.
• : colobus monkeys, lepilemuras, slender-bodied monkeys, geladas.
• Class Birds: ducks, geese, swans, grays, Amazons, budgies, parakeets, macaws, cockatoos, toucans.
• Class: giant prehensile-tailed skink, land turtles, common iguanas.
• Class Insects: ants, true grasshoppers, lepidoptera, caterpillars, short-whiskered orthoptera, leafhoppers, moths, humpbacks.
• : koalas, kangaroos.
• Superclass of fish: all species of fish that feed exclusively plant foods, such as aquatic plants and phytoplankton.
• Invertebrates: snails, slugs, earthworms.

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Herbivores eat exclusively food of plant origin. However, many herbivores also include eggs and other animal protein into your diet. This group can be conditionally divided into granivores (feed mainly on seeds), leaf-eaters and frugivores. 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. They all primarily eat plants, although some will supplement their diet with insects and carrion. This diet satisfies both nutritional and water needs. Desert areas are home to small herbivores such as antelope ground squirrels, kangaroo jumpers, forest hamsters, black-tailed hares and steppe rabbits. Although most mammals in this group are nocturnal, antelope ground squirrels are not afraid of the scorching desert sun. In order to cool down, these rodents can go underground. An antelope ground squirrel can lose up to 13% of its moisture per day. Therefore, to compensate for this loss of water, it feeds on green leaves and drinks dew early in the morning.

Kangaroo jumpers got their name precisely because of their jumping habit. Its only source of moisture is metabolic water, which is obtained through the digestion of plant foods. However, this method of hydration produces very little water, so kangaroo hoppers must conserve every drop. The temperature in his nasal passages is much lower than his core body temperature. Therefore, the air that passes through these nasal passages cools and condenses onto 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 jackrabbits hide near the base of plants during the day, where the soil and air temperature are cooler. They feed on grasses and green parts of plants, as well as branches and bark of trees, and cacti. At the same time, animals eat non-stop, since they have a very high need for plant food.

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

Large herbivores

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

Hippopotamus

A hippopotamus, or an ordinary hippopotamus, is the only one modern look kind of hippopotamus. Its diet includes ground grass, which it bites down to the very root with its keratinized lips. Hippos lead a semi-aquatic lifestyle and spend most of the daylight hours in the 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 giraffidae family includes okapi and giraffes, which are also herbivores. Giraffes feed on the leaves of trees, mainly acacias, capturing them with the help of their long tongue and lips, which are not afraid of thorns. Okapi, like the giraffe, feeds on tree leaves. This forest dweller is significantly 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 cope with digestion. Also different special structure teeth, they mostly have a flat crown and a large gap in the jaws. Herbivores have very powerful chewing muscles that are responsible for grinding tough foods of plant origin.

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From an ecological point of view, mammals are classified as consumers of both the first and subsequent orders; Consumers of the first order thus constitute the group of herbivores, the second and subsequent ones - carnivores. This division, however, is conditional, since most representatives of the class eat both plant and animal foods, and the ratio between these food sources may fluctuate depending on the season and other reasons. The diversity of food sources is one of the reasons species diversity and distribution of mammals.

Among herbivorous mammals, a number of subgroups can be distinguished:

· herbivores - feed mainly on grass (horses, bulls, sheep, rodents), as well as branches, bark and leaves (deer, elephants, giraffes);

granivores - squirrels, mice;

· frugivores - monkeys.

Animal-eating mammals include:

· insectivores - hedgehogs, shrews, moles, bats. They consume mainly invertebrates. At the same time, moles obtain food underground, bats, on the contrary, in the air;

· predators - cats, dogs, seals, cetaceans. They consume mainly vertebrates. Some - cats - are entirely carnivorous; others - bears - actively eat plant foods;

· piscivores - dolphin;

· scavengers - jackals, hyenas.

Some mammals have developed specific food sources. Thus, some bats consume the nectar of flowers, while others - vampires - suck blood.(6)

Herbivores (herbivores, granivores, frugivores, etc.)

Order Damana is a detachment of primitive herbivorous mammals. Externally, hyraxes look a little like a rabbit, a tailless marmot. Body length 30-60 cm, tail 1-3 cm, weigh up to 4.5 kg. The head is large, the neck is short and thick, and the limbs are short and plantigrade. Hyraxes have thick fur. In the middle of the back there is a patch of elongated hair that differs in color; in the center of it there is a bare space; On its surface, ducts of tubular glands open, secreting a substance that smells strongly during the breeding season. The incisors of the upper jaw have a constant growth and are similar to the incisors of rodents; no fangs; Glands on the soles, secreting a rubber-like secretion, contribute to the strong suction of the sole to the substrate. Distributed in Western Asia (Syria, Israel, Arabia), in Central and South Africa. Representatives of the genera Procavia and Heterohyrax live in groups of 5-50 in waterless savannas and rocky placers, climbing mountains to a height of 4.5 thousand m. Representatives of the genus Dendrohyrax are nocturnal arboreal animals, living in families. All hyraxes have 1-6 cubs in their litter.

The order Rodents is the most numerous among mammals (about 2 thousand species). Rodents are ubiquitous. They are characterized by the absence of fangs and highly developed incisors. The incisors, and for many even the molars, do not have roots and grow throughout their lives. Between the incisors and molars there is a wide space devoid of teeth.

The order includes voles, squirrels, ground squirrels, marmots, beavers, hamsters, dormice, and jerboas. Some rodents are of commercial importance, for example, squirrel, muskrat, beaver, nutria, etc. Many types of rodents (mice, voles, rats) are pests Agriculture and carriers of a number of dangerous diseases of humans and domestic animals (plague, tularemia, tick-borne relapsing fever, encephalitis, etc.).

The order Artiodactyls includes 170 species. These include ungulate mammals with equally strongly developed third and fourth toes. The first finger is absent, the second and fifth are poorly developed or completely absent. There are non-ruminant and ruminant artiodactyls.

Pig and hippopotamus have a simple stomach, and they do not regurgitate food for repeated chewing. Ruminant artiodactyls (cows, sheep, goats, deer, camels, moose, antelopes, giraffes, etc.) have a complex stomach consisting of four sections: rumen, mesh, book and abomasum.

All breeds of large animals (except yak and buffalo) belong to this order. cattle. They are bred from several species wild bulls. One of them was the tur, widespread in Europe and Asia and disappeared 350 years ago. Breeding and selection livestock moved towards creating working, dairy, meat and meat and dairy breeds.

The order Perissodactyls includes 16 species. The order includes horses, rhinoceroses, donkeys, and zebras. One (third) toe is strongly developed on the feet.

To this day, only one species of wild horse has survived - the Przewalski's horse, which lives in small numbers in the mountain deserts of Mongolia.

The horse appeared among domestic animals much later than the dog, pig, sheep, goat, and bull. Man directed selection towards the creation of riding, light and heavy draft horse breeds. Among the breeds of riding horses, distinguished by great endurance and the ability to travel up to 300 km per day, in

The CIS is famous for Oryol trotters and Don horses. Vladimir heavy trucks are distinguished by their powerful exterior, strength and great performance. They can carry loads of up to 16 tons. Local breeds of horses are used for transport and agricultural work. Mare's milk is used to prepare delicious and healing kumiss. In the steppes Central Asia The kulans, which are close to the horse, have survived to this day.

The order of Monkeys, or Primates, includes 190 species. The brain is comparatively large sizes. The forebrain hemispheres are very large and have numerous convolutions. The eye sockets are directed forward. Fingers have nails. Thumb limbs is opposed to the rest. One pair of nipples is located on the chest. They live in tropical and sub tropical forests, lead both arboreal and terrestrial lifestyles. They feed on plant and animal foods. Family great apes(orangutan, chimpanzee, gorilla) lives in the forests of equatorial and tropical Africa.

Animal-eaters (insectivores, piscivores, scavengers, carnivores, etc.)

The order Insectivores unites the most primitive placental animals. Their brain is relatively small, the cortex is smooth, without convolutions, and in most the teeth are poorly differentiated. The muzzle is elongated into a long, mobile proboscis.

Body sizes are medium to small. They feed on insects and their larvae. Representatives are mole, shrew, hedgehog, muskrat, slittooth, etc.

The order Carnivora includes 240 species. They are playing important role in biocenoses and are of great practical importance. Their main feature is the structure of the teeth: the incisors are small, the canines are always well developed, the molars are tuberculate with sharp cutting tips. (Fig. 7) These are mainly carnivores, less often omnivores. The main families are canids (arctic fox, fox, wolf, dog), mustelids (sable, ermine, ferret, marten, badger, otter), felines (lion, tiger, lynx, leopard, wild and domestic cats), bears (brown And polar bears). Brown bear and lynx are listed in the Red Book of the Republic of Belarus. Many species are used for fur trade or are bred on fur farms (American mink, sable, blue fox, silver fox). Number of most dangerous predators(wolves) are regulated by humans.

The order Pinnipeds includes 30 species. They spend most of their lives in water, and come to land or ice to reproduce and molt. Thanks to the streamlined body shape, shortened limbs modified into flippers, as well as large subcutaneous fat deposits, pinnipeds are well adapted to life in aquatic environment. They feed mainly on fish. Are valuable objects fisheries and provide fat, leather, meat, and furs. The order includes seals, seals, walruses.

The order Cetaceans includes 80 species. Exclusively aquatic mammals having a fish-like body shape with a horizontal caudal fin. The forelimbs are turned into flippers, the hind limbs are absent. They do not have fur or ears.

The subcutaneous layer of fat is thick, reaching 50 cm. The specific gravity of large cetaceans is close to the specific gravity of water.

Toothed whales (dolphin, sperm whale) have a large number of teeth of the same structure. They feed on fish. In toothless baleen whales ( blue whale) in place of teeth, a filtering apparatus is developed in the form of horny plates (whalebone), sitting on the sides of the palate and hanging down into oral cavity. They strain out plankton and less often feed on fish. Every day a blue whale (weight 150 tons, length 33 m) eats 4-5 tons of food.

Baleen whales have long been important fishery targets, so their stocks have declined due to intensive extermination. Many species of cetaceans are listed in the Red Book International Union nature conservation and natural resources(IUCN).

Green plants have the ability to undergo photosynthesis, in which the simple chemical components of air and water are converted into more complex compounds using the radiant energy of the sun. Thus, plants provide themselves with food. Animals don't know how to do this.

They provide themselves with energy by eating plants or plant-eating animals. Consequently, without plants there would simply be no life on earth.

Most animals are herbivores. Often they only eat certain types or even parts of plants that are better suited for them digestive system. The leaves and stems mainly consist of a rather rough substance - fiber, or cellulose. It is difficult to digest, but microscopic bacteria and protozoa that live in the stomachs of many herbivorous animals help digest crushed plant food.

Manatees

Manatees, like their related dugongs, are mammals that live in water and feed almost exclusively on plant foods. Since aquatic vegetation in large quantities contains harmful silica, which destroys the teeth of manatees, the teeth of these animals are constantly renewed. Manatees live in shallow seas and rivers Atlantic coast West Africa and tropical America.

Okapi

The timid okapi is the only surviving relative of giraffes on earth. Okapi was only discovered 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 with it. Okapi are very picky eaters and spend a long time looking for their favorite leaves, tender buds, fruits or mushrooms. If given the opportunity, they will happily eat cassava or sweet potatoes from the garden. Long legs and the sloping back of the okapi is very similar to a giraffe with a short neck. Dark brown fur and stripes on the legs and back of the body provide good camouflage in the forest. Okapi's height at the withers reaches 160 cm, and its weight reaches 230 kg. Males have small horns. Okapi mark their territory, which covers several hectares, and fight over females in the same way as giraffes, striking each other with their necks. Males and females stick together only during mating. Females raise their young alone, which remain 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 their paws and strongly curved claws, they can climb a tree in an instant. A sticky substance secreted by special glands on their paws helps them hold tightly to trees. These nocturnal, loud-screaming mammals live in the forests of Africa. They feed on leaves, ferns, fruits, sometimes insects and bird eggs. Hyraxes usually live in pairs.

Koala

The marsupial mammal of Australia, the koala, spends its entire life among eucalyptus trees, the leaves of which it feeds on. Eucalyptus leaves are poisonous to most animals. However, the koala's stomach secretes a special, potent gastric juice that neutralizes the eucalyptus poison. Since eucalyptus leaves are not very nutritious, in order for a koala to stock up on enough vital energy, is forced to consume them in huge quantities every day - 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. Currently, primarily diseases, as well as people who have 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.

Animal life is an important part environment and the processes that occur in it. Participation in biological systems and food chains is a necessity for its representatives. Many animals contribute to the reproduction of plants, which, in turn, serve as food for fauna. This is an alliance that connects herbivores with other wildlife.

The fauna world is divided into a huge number of categories - species, subspecies, orders, classes. Among them are herbivorous animals - those representatives of the fauna that feed exclusively on food of plant origin. They are first-order consumers in the composition

A feature of the digestive system of these representatives of the surrounding world is the predominance of the food enzyme amylase. Some herbivores have an enzyme that breaks down cellulose. This allows them to more easily digest plant foods.

Herbivores are the complete opposite of carnivores. Basically, higher animals can be divided into these categories. Smaller, microscopic organisms are difficult to attribute to one or another of them, since even their belonging to the world of flora or fauna is often unclear. They themselves serve as food for many animals.

There are quite a lot of such cases among representatives of the fauna. An example of a change in diet throughout life is the frog. As an adult, it feeds on food of animal origin, while its tadpole is a herbivore (feeds on algae). Herbivorous animals include koalas, sloths, kangaroos, whales, some artiodactyls, all proboscideans, odd-toed animals and bats.

Ungulates (forest, desert, for the most part also belong to this class. They all feed on plant foods, but if they consume food of a different origin, then in very small quantities, not comparable to the volume of plants in their diet. For protection against attack, many ungulates have horns, bone formations on the head. Rhinoceroses have a horn, which is located on the nose. The saliva of herbivorous animals does not secrete ptyalin. It is mainly intended for wetting food.

Plant foods are very difficult to digest. The complexity that herbivorous animals have is designed to facilitate this process. In ruminant representatives of this class, it consists of a mesh, a rumen, a book and abomasum. This allows you to digest the rich food without any problems. The process occurs in several stages: from the rumen, poorly chewed grass can be thrown back into the esophagus, and then into the mouth - the animal “chews the cud.” Moistened with saliva, thoroughly chewed food this time no longer falls into the rumen, but flows down a groove and ends up through the mesh into the book, and then into the abomasum. From the rennet it is released in small portions into small intestine where absorption occurs nutrients into the blood.

Herbivorous animals also have differences in the structure of their teeth. They are characterized by flat-crowned teeth with large gaps in the jaws. Many of them lack incisors. Herbivores have very powerful muscles responsible for grinding tough plant foods.