Will herbivores eat meat in famine?

Answer 1

You dont; need to wait for a famine, almost any herbivores will eat meat when it is available.

Sheep and deer will routinely eat nestling birds, snails and almost any other animals they can catch.

Cattle and bison will eat the bones of dead aninals, including other cattle.

Squirrels are active predators on nestling birds.

Moose routinely eat lemmings.

Tree kangaroos routinely supplement their diet by catching insects.

And so on and so forth. It would actualy be easier to list herbivores that DON'T eat meat since the list would be much shorter.

Answer 2

It depends on the animal. Most herbivores are classifed so because not only do they have a food preference but because their physiology is connected to their diet.

Many herbivores do not have the capability to digest meat at all so will starve in the absence of their normal food.

Some herbivores have the ability to adapt and eat meat, but generally most herbivores also lack the capacity to hunt which compounds the problem further.

Answer 3

There is really a spectrum of animals from obligate carnivory to obligate herbivory. I would assume an obligate or specialist herbivore wouldn' be able to eat meat as its digestive system wouldn't be able to extract the required nutrients. For example, a Koala can only eat a few species of eucalypts as its digestive processes have evolved to detoxify the secondary metabolites in the leaves at a cost to its metabolic rate (sleeping for 18 hours/day)

Answer 4

If there was a famine, would there be any meat left for the herbivores to eat? I guess they would if there was - anything to survive. e.g. human cannibalism

Answer 5

It depends on the animal.

In particular, I know that hippos will eat meat, but it helps if a predator (such as an alligator) kills their prey for them.

Most herbivores don't have good hunting instincts, and aren't good at learning them.

Answer 6

they are called herbivores because they only eat plants, besides they are not smart enough to eat meat because all the 'smart' species on Earth is omnivores, (gorillas, chimps, human)

Answer 7

they will never do so because their digestive system is different from those that eat meat.

Answer 8

If they didn't want to die.

Answer 9

no, never