Does it SUCK to be a herbivore especially mammalian herbivores?>you can't digest cellulose on your own, you need a specific microbiome>you need to spend hours fermenting and digesting plant matter>often times the plant matter isn't nutritious enough and you have opportunistically eat meat>if you're a hindgut fermenter, your young literally have to eat the shit of their mothers to gain the right gut microbiome>if you're a hindgut fermenter, the large size of your body/belly isn't fat but intestines (like manatees/dugong/many monkeys)>if you're a foregut fermenter, you have to spend most of your waking hours chewing cud then belching >you get more nutrients from plant matter compared to hindgut fermenters but you still have to constantly regurgitate then chew and repeatBoy am I glad that we're omnivores
>>5159567They seem to get by just fine. In fact these are some of the chillest mammals with few worries.
Is it worse than being a detritivore?
>>5159567Mammalian herbivores basically evolve to be food for other animals. They are living compost heaps.>Hello, I turn plant matter into food for you.>Please kill my friends so I can reproduce instead.
>>5159569Land snails are detritivore and they are doing pretty well in survival department
>>5159567How is it for pseudoruminants?
For me, it's foregut fermenters.
>>5159567Don’t forget the shit-eaters!
>>5159651They still have to chew cud but they have a slightly different amount of stomach and chambers compared to the usual fourAnd for camels, they're more efficient at extracting nutrients from shitty twigs
>>5159567But bro, the floor is LITERALLY food. That's sweet as hell.
>>5159567It sounds gross to us but these animals probably evolved to enjoy chewing their cud/eating their cecotrope, the same way we enjoy eating cooked foods that are perceived as gross by most other animals.
>>5160431But most herbivores really like our foodThey go crazy for candies and fruits (in candy form)
>>5160687thats because theyre designed to look for the sweetest vegetable, because that means it has the most nutrients in it, that would be a carrot in the wild
>>5159567the worst part is how little of their lives are spent sleeping.
>>5160405Interesting. I suppose it's the best of both world while allowing them to get the most out of everything rather than constantly eat new things like we do.
>>5160717Yeah I think giraffes only sleep like two hours a day or some shit Meanwhile big cats rest a lot
>>5160983compared to human's 8 hours / day sleeping... giraffes live 80 human waking years in just 20 chronological years.
>>5159797At least they realize how many nutrients are wasted if they don't eat their shit again
>>5159567Goats seem pretty relaxed and content while chewing cud. I don't think it bothers them. It would really suck to get bloat tho.
Bump
>>5159567no? food is easy to obtain and is everywhere. its piss and shit easy. carnivory is way more difficult.
>>5162941>food is easy to obtain and is everywherenot in wintertime
>BumpBut an ad you carnivver
>>5164125Typical herbivore All that grass left you with no nutrients to develop your brain
>>5159567>you need a specific microbiomeAnon just about every animal with a gut requires a bacterial biome to help digest.
>>5159569>>5159618I was thinking about it just the other day, but there isn't a lot that actually eats fallen vegetable matter. It's pretty much just fungi, snails, and worms.Throw a salad on the ground, and it'll just rot.
>>5165146Help digest not to digest though
>>5159567>>if you're a hindgut fermenter, your young literally have to eat the shit of their mothers to gain the right gut microbiomeWebm related
>>5159567eating low nutritious shit like grass and leaves and fermenting it in your own body so you can support a gigantic muscular body sounds pretty amazing
>>5169030You have to spent most of the day chewing and eating thoughMeanwhile lions just eat once and they're good for the entire day
>>5169032>You have to spent most of the day chewing and eating thoughwhat else are you going to do all day? large herbivores look chill as fuck while eating. lions always need to be near prey that they are able to hunt and also need to be in top condition every day or they're fucked
>>5169034>lions always need to be near prey that they are able to hunt and also need to be in top condition every day or they're fuckedThat's how they stay intelligent and in tip-top shapeOnly the strongest can mate and pass on their genes as wellMost herbivores are dumb as a rock thanks to their abundant food source (elephants notwithstanding)
>>5159567On the upside, plants don't run away. For most herbivores, it's free food. I don't think they even have the brain energy to spare thinking of how fucked over they were by nature.>Boy am I glad that we're omnivoresGood if you're a hunter-gatherer chud or steppe nomad chad, but most of humans that lived before the green revolution had to farm:>Clear the land of any other plant, rocks and turn over soil>Just so you can plant a grass with overgrown seeds>Spend most of year tending it so they don't get eaten by animals and praying that the weather doesn't destroy them before harvest>Spends time and energy harvesting it lest it rots away in the field>Isn't even ready yet, got to remove the seeds from the stalks and then the edible part from the husk>Then turn the result into actual foodIf anyone is winning at life, it's the slime mold.
>>5169750>If anyone is winning at life, it's the slime mold.That's where humanity is at now.No need to even move a finger as modern civilization does that for you, the only survival mechanism is just having some kind of employment and consume.
Average life of a herbivore (getting eaten alive)
>>5172881The average day of a carnivore is getting brutally mogged by elephants, rhinos and hippos.
>Wake up underground in cool burrow. Temperatures are dropping and you don't feel sleepy-hot anymore>Amble up and out of your burrow into the cool pre-dawn desert. >Wander around munching on desert grasses and flowers. Fucking delicious.>Sun is coming up. Hawks will be out soon. Return to burrow to sleep down where its cool and comfy as the surface bakes>Get to repeat it all at dusk.Seems pretty nice to me. Even better if you're a Galapagos with no natural predators. Maybe life sucks for pathetic mammal herbivorous.>>5169041Lions take no enjoyment in being intelligent and in tip-top shape. No more so than a housecat does. If given the opportunity they would gladly eat until fat. They're animals. Applying concepts that only humans take pride like an enjoyment of challenge and suffering to an animal is stupid.
>>5159569Well to them shit and mud probably tastes like candy and smells like flowers
>>5172881in an ideal world the ancestor of all animals evolved by random chance a net-neutral adaptation which shuts off pain when it's clear the animal is doomed to die
>>5172900>only three species of herbivore >that have to spent half the day eatingThey may sizemog most land predators but those predators lives better lives
>>5172931Live better lives by constantly having to risk their lives trying to kill prey that could potentially fuck them up if things don't go as planned. I'd rather have to spend half the day eating then potentially getting killed or badly injured by a prey animal.
>>5172917There is this mechanism, at least in humans, when you are under immense pain your body just shuts down of shock.
>>5159797>if you're a hindgut fermenter, your young literally have to eat the shit of their mothers to gain the right gut microbiomeOP didn't
>>5172881>still upWow, few years ago I got a 30 day ban for reversing a video of a cat getting unstuck from under a car.
>>5172900Those get fucked in a drought thoughMeanwhile carnivores can take full advantage >>5173422This should be a red boardWhat's the fun in animals and nature without discussing their actual behaviour
Weird how elephants have huge tusks when they don't need them for food or defense.
>>5159567It's worse if you're a herbivorous bird. This fucker stinks and can barely even fly
