Herbivorous animals. Herbivores are a special category in the world of fauna

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Herbivores, as the name implies, eat plants. Along with them, according to the method of feeding, predatory and omnivorous animals are distinguished.

Examples of predators include wolves, tigers, foxes and others. Omnivores include wild boars, hedgehogs, raccoons, crows and other animals.

However, most of all on the planet are herbivorous representatives of the fauna. These are the ones that will be discussed in the article.

What animals are called herbivores?

Herbivores or phytophages obtain energy for life from plants. IN the food chain they are on the second level between plants and carnivores.

Animals that eat plant foods are represented various types. They live on all continents, in all climate zones.

These include the largest animals, such as elephants, and the smallest, mice. Even among fish, insects and mollusks there are herbivorous species.

Because of their diet, they differ from other animals. Firstly, they have powerful chewing muscles, with which they grind food. Secondly, their teeth structure is different.

The third feature is due to the fact that plant parts contain a lot of fiber, so they are difficult to digest. In this regard, herbivorous animals have a well-developed stomach and intestines, and especially the cecum. Some eat whole plants, others only parts of them.

For example, cattle prefer leaves to stems, and green parts of plants to dry and tough ones. Some animals even develop specializations: their bodies are able to digest only certain parts of plants (leaves, roots or wood).

List of herbivores

For convenience, zoologists came up with two classifications of herbivorous animals. Depending on what part of the plant the animal eats, granivores, leaf-eaters and frugivores are distinguished.

And, depending on the size of the representatives, two groups can be distinguished: large and small. Let's consider this classification in more detail.

Small herbivores

This species includes rodents, rabbits and hares. The peculiarity of these animals is that they obtain the necessary moisture from leaves, and sometimes drink dew.

Hare

In spring, summer and autumn, this animal does not lack food. It eats berries, grass, dandelion flowers, and lingonberry leaves.

Winter food in limited quantities, so the hare has to make do with the bark of trees and bushes.

Hamster

Wild hamsters feed on grains and grains. They also eat the green parts of plants and berries.

A domestic hamster purchased for children eats the same thing.

Mouse

Wild mice come out for food in the dark. They collect nuts, berries, and acorns.

Feed on seeds various trees, for example, maple.

Squirrel

Fruits, mushrooms, berries, plant seeds - the squirrel's diet is varied.

She also feeds on buds and acorns.

Large herbivores

This group is characterized by enormous species diversity. Among them there are both wild and domestic animals. Some live in the desert, while others are accustomed to the Arctic climate.

Elephant

Elephants eat and drink a lot. The diet includes leaves and tree roots.

They eat grass. Sometimes they eat tree fruits.

Camel

There is little vegetation in the desert, but it still exists and becomes food for this animal. Camels eat branches of sand acacia and saxaul.

They also feed on camel thorn, the thorny branches of which are not at all scary to the camel.

Hippopotamus

These large animals eat ground grass. They are able to digest even coarse dried grass that no one else eats.

They feed after dark, as they spend the day in the water.

Giraffes

Huge growth allows the giraffe to eat the leaves of the most tall trees. He grabs them with his long tongue and lips.

When listing his favorite plants, the following names should be mentioned: acacia, apricot and mimosa.

Herbivorous birds

Biologists divide all birds into herbivores, insectivores and predators. The first species is most often found, as well as birds that eat both plants and insects.

Herbivorous birds are distinguished by a short, wide beak, with which they can easily remove seeds from cones, remove shells from nuts, shells from seeds, and crush grains.

Goose

This pet loves to eat green parts of plants: leaves, grass.

They can eat seeds, berries and grains.

Capercaillie

It would take a long time to list the diet of this bird. It includes berries, leaves, buds and seeds.

In warm seasons, the capercaillie feeds on shoots and flowers, and in winter it eats the needles of pine and spruce trees.

Bullfinch

This red-breasted bird feeds on the fruits of rowan and lilac, linden and bird cherry buds.

It also feeds on the seeds of weeds: wormwood, chicory.

Crossbill

These birds live where there are coniferous trees. That’s why they eat mainly coniferous seeds, which they take out from the cones with their beaks.

If there are few cones, then the crossbill is not averse to eating tree buds and gnawing on frozen resin.

Thus, it becomes clear that herbivores occupy special place in the animal world. Special structure The body helps them digest plant foods more easily than others.

They are represented by various species both among mammals and among birds, fish and insects. They live in all corners of the world: in the house among people and in the most distant places of our planet.

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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. It is diversity food sources is one of the reasons for the 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, the 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 an area of ​​elongated hair that differs in color, in the center of which 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 Artiodactyla 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 cattle (except yak and buffalo) belong to this order. They are bred from several species wild bulls. One of them was the tur, widespread in Europe and Asia and disappeared 350 years ago. The breeding and selection of livestock moved towards the creation of 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 quantities 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,

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 relatively large in size. 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 subtropical 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 include mole, shrew, hedgehog, muskrat, slittooth, etc.

The order Carnivora includes 240 species. They play an important role in biocenoses and have a large practical significance. 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 breed 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. They are valuable fisheries and produce fat, leather, meat, and furs. The order includes seals, seals, walruses.

The order Cetaceans includes 80 species. Exclusively aquatic mammals with 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, reaches 50 cm. The specific gravity of large cetaceans is close to specific gravity water.

Toothed whales (dolphin, sperm whale) have big number teeth of the same structure. They feed on fish. In toothless baleen whales ( blue whale) in place of the teeth, a filtering apparatus is developed in the form of horny plates (whalebone), sitting on the sides of the palate and hanging into the 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 of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and natural resources(IUCN).