Why don't predators eat fruits and vegetable?

Question

I hardly believe their stomach is not proper for their consumption. I know they do eat sometimes grass for "medical" reasons, but could they live without meat? What if there's no prey? Would they eat fruits to survive?

Answer 1

Contrary to what they show in infomercials, meat is far easier to digest than vegetable matter. Because of this, carnivores have much less effecient digestive systems than herbivores. Humans, for example, very rarely get hungry enough to see wood as food, even though several animals can live off of it. That's because our systems aren't effecient enough to digest wood. We'd eat constantly, and still starve to death. Most carnivores are even less effecient, making things like rice as usless to them as wood is to us. Basically, a cat eating a carrot does it as much good as a person eating plastic. And it takes up room in it's stomach that could be filled with something it can digest.

Answer 2

I'm sure that most predators, if they were allowed to speak, would tell us that they DO regard their victims as 'fruits' and 'vegetables'...!

And, no, carnivores must eat meat. Although it is theoretically possible for humans to gather different plant proteins from all over the world and live on a diet derived completely from vegetable sources, those various essential proteins sources do not naturally grow near one another to be gathered.

Rest assured, our ancestors were not the peaceful pacifists some authors of escapist fiction portray, living solely on nuts and berries; they killed and ate animals in order to survive.

A starving predator might TRY to eat available fruits, but would not find them nutritious enough in the ways its body needed; in contrast to the manner that modern advertisements have tried to condition the consuming public into thinking that vegetable sources only and always are superior to animal sources. It is not a matter of persuasion. The carnivore does not eat animals because it enjoys it. It eats them because it must.

Answer 3

We can also try out grass, but will we be able to digest it ? Can we get the nutrients that we require ? Predators and Carnivores can obtain their nutrients only from a flesh diet. That is how their system has evolved. Eating grass and herbs is fine for a cure but imagine living on medicine for your whole life.

Predators have an important role to play. If they were eliminated or stopped eating herbivores, grass eaters would initially surge in numbers which would lead to vast deforestation and consequent collapse of the ecosystem.

Answer 4

Well, scientific proof of that has not been conclusively established there is a great debate about whether or not certain animals actually are solely carnivorous..... and apart from highly specialized predators, many people are beginning to see more instances of animals previously though to be strictly carnivores as actually being omnivorous. In most cases we cannot say with any certainty that we have observed what every member of every species of carnivore has eaten to survive at all stages of its life... our knowledge of most animals at best consists of random snapshots taken from small areas and we do not get the entire picture. To those people that say these animals can get nothing from eating plant matter because thier digestive tracts do not allow for it..... then why is it that so many wild animals would waste precious time and energy in consuming plants, when they are carnivores and have sufficient prey in the area? Coyotes have been observed many times raiding the gardens of humans when there is a chicken coop full of chickens at thier disposal, they also raid bird feeders constantly, and I had a fox AND a coyote that were regularly visiting my platform feeder, to feed on the black oil sunflower seeds and peanuts (both of which are high in protein like meat) From the coyote and fox scat near my house I have also learned that they both consume a large amount of pin and choke cherries whose seeds are clearly visible in thier feces(like the bears around here).
I also observed a pack of Canadian red wolves feeding on sunflower seeds in a field of sunflowers, and they also regularly consume horse manure from the pastures surrounding thier rendezvous site, even when there was plenty of prey to be killed in the area..... Considering all of this and what I have personally observed living in a wilderness area in Canada, I have come to the conclusion that some so called carnivores eat more plant material than we have yet been able to observe and study and I believe it is entirely possible for them to temporarily exist upon plant matter despite the fact that it would be a less than ideal diet that thier body is suited for. There is no possible way that the few glimpses we have had into many carnivorous animal lives can offer a complete picture of ALL thier behaviour and habits, and there is much we can still discover in different places on the earth and in each individual animals life. Until then we cannot disprove the possibility of heretofore undiscovered behaviour in carnivorous animals..... Until we study every individual of every species from birth to death we may never really know EVERYTHING there is to know about that species.

I do have a theory about wolves though, stemming from my observation of a single pack.... They ate alot of horse manure and I think it is truly interesting to hypothesize that they do so in order to be able to better digest the plant matter they need in their diet, seeing as how it has already been through the horses stomach which partially breaks it down it is concieveable that wolves are then able to better digest it. It is even more intriguing if you then extend the behaviour into another more complex predator/prey relationship in which wolves and possibly other carnivores not only rely on certain prey for thier meat, but for the partially broken down plant material in their dung. Gives you a little something to think about... doesnt it?

Answer 5

Because their high metabolism (required for outrunning prey and the brute force to kill it) can only derive enough energy from the fat and proteins of their victims.

Answer 6

Some eat both,some get it from the guts of the animals they eat!

Answer 7

Huh? I've seen coyotes eat apples under my apple tree. I've seen bears eat berries on t.v.

Answer 8

they would no longer be "predators".....and there are many that will, and do eat vegetation,,,,,, bears, hogs, birds, wolverines,,,,,etc,,,,etc......

only a few on the upper food chain will die before eating vegetation,,,,, but more predator species will, that not

Answer 9

If there were no prey I bet they would evolve into fruit eaters.

Answer 10

Some eat each other. Others would have to evolve or die out.