Animals That Eat Plants

People who watch National Geographic documentaries are used to seeing wild animals killing their prey, but what often might go unnoticed is wild animals that quietly and casually eat plants.

Animals That Eat Plants

It is true that a clip showing the predatory tiger getting ready to catch the innocent deer is something that is more likely to catch one’s attention, but there are some animals that you will be equally surprised to find out that they eat plants.

In this article, we have some of these herbivore animals and more information about them, along with some fun facts about them you might want to share with your friends and family.

Which are those animals? Start scrolling to find out!

7 Unique Animals That Eat Plants

Deer

Deer are among the most highly developed creatures on the planet, having undergone numerous genetic changes as a result of the competitive ecosystems they live in.

Their massive specially developed horns are called antlers and are used to protect deer from any other wild animal’s attack, and this distinguishes them as a unique wild creature that eats plants and not its enemies.

There are many species of deer that roam the earth and are truly captivating natural creations. All of them have short and small tails and diverse coat shades ranging from brown to grey.

Regarding their food, deer have a dedicated bodily process that allows them to effectively eat and metabolize their food.

To be more precise, their lips and teeth function in such a way that they help them with plucking and ingesting food that goes into their stomach. As for that, they are one more animal on this list that has a stomach with 4 chambers.

However, what they differ in is that they are very picky eaters due to the fact that their antlers regrow every year, thus necessitating a wide range of nutrients to do so.

As a result, they have a general inclination for consuming high-quality food that is nutrient-rich.

Gorillas

The most famous of all apes, gorillas can be found in many mountain ranges and flatlands in Africa. With large hairy bodies and protruding abdomen, these enormous animals are incredibly strong.

However, the thing that gorillas are most known for is their walk as they walk on all fours, with most of their weight resting on their hands rather than their feet.

Interestingly, gorillas dislike water and will often spend days without drinking it. They hydrate themselves through their diet or by inhaling the daytime water vapor.

As for their food, gorillas mostly eat greenery and things such as leave and stems. Nevertheless, there are a few gorilla species that occasionally eat certain bugs or mammals

Goats

Goats are large, cloven-footed vegetarians with two horns, just like cows.

They can be domesticated and raised on farmlands as they are also valuable in terms of supplying humans with their meat and dairy products.

Nevertheless, several goats are indigenous to mountainous areas with a steep and rougher surface, and it is their slender bodies, cloven feet, and great physical performance that enables them to easily move up such sharp and hilly regions.

Moreover, goats dedicate most of their lives to herds feeding on grass from nearby places, with greenery being their main food.

Despite their preference for feeding on grass, mountain goats regularly consume large plants and mosses, and yet their lips are noticeably large, helping them catch plants and grass and eat it.

Animals That Eat Plants

And, in case you are wondering why they always seem to chew their grass with their mouths turn on one side, that is because their upper jaws are way larger than the bottom ones, which leads them to perform circular movements with their mouth.

Finally, similar to cows and other cattle species, they have 4 chambers in their stomach and digest food in the same way cows do.

Cows

Cows are domesticated creatures that can be found all over the planet.

They are excellent farm animals that offer numerous advantages to humans. Cow meat and dairy, for instance, are consumed, and their skin is used to create leather goods.

Cows are large in size, and you can find them across the world in a variety of colors, including white, brown, and black.

They can weigh even 2000 pounds, which is close to what small cars weigh, so you can now understand what we meant by the word ‘large.’

Moreover, the fact that they possess two horns on their heads is something that clearly differentiates them from many other farm animals and cattle types.

Finally, when it comes to cows and how they choose to eat plants, that is quite evident from their large mouths and massive flat teeth that help them with grazing grass and chewing plants.

So, the very fact that they lack any sharp teeth would be enough for someone to understand that they cannot kill animals (see also: Animals That Kill Snakes)and thus eat them.

Their mouths are typically performing a circular movement which is due to the fact that they are grazers, and their stomachs have four chambers that repeatedly transport food back and forth so that they can chew till it gets to the final chamber.

This indicates that cows do not have to worry about their digestive process, and they can eat a lot of grass (see also: Animals That Eat Grass)and plants as their stomachs take care of all the digestion.

Horses

Most of us have seen or ridden a tamed horse, but the truth is that it, along with its tamed ancestors and relatives, comes from wild horses.

Horses have been among the most precious creatures for humanity because they served as the primary mode of transportation in the olden days and as racing creatures for entertaining people.

Not only that but they are also animals that make excellent human buddies thanks to their ability to display affection and develop deep connections with their mates.

They have lovely coat hues that range from black and white to earthy colors like brown and beige. Furthermore, their robust muscular bodies allow them to run extremely fast.

These creatures evolved to eat plants because of their huge and flat front teeth, which enable them to tear grass from the land surface while their back teeth help with chewing.

Nevertheless, their digestive systems vary considerably from those of other animals that eat plants as their stomachs are very tiny in comparison to their huge bodies.

This results in them being accustomed to consuming less food than they look like they should be eating, but in having more frequent meals each day.

Pandas

Animals That Eat Plants

Pandas are not only the sweetest bears, but they are probably the most endearing animals on the planet in general.

They are native to China’s bamboo forest areas and were thought to be near the point of extinction until conservation efforts changed that and saved them.

Known for their black and white fur and their white-fur face and black fur around their eyes, they belong to that group of animals that love spending most of their day sleeping and eating, and that’s what they do.

These endearing animals cannot live without their bamboo, which they consume for approximately 12 hours per day thanks to their powerful jaws that aid in the chewing of the interior of bamboo stalks, while they also seem to have a special fondness for bamboo leaves, which they eat whole.

Bamboo is pretty much all they eat as they have it in abundance, so they are yet another animal that eats plants, (see also: Animals That Eat Both Plants And Animals)and in this case, mostly this specific one.

Nevertheless, these aren’t the only components of a panda’s nutrition. These animals can eat whatever they can get their hands on, such as fruits, tiny insects, or sometimes rodents.

Kangaroos

Kangaroos are intriguing undomesticated animals known for their hopping with 14 distinct species of kangaroos being nowadays native to Australian forests.

These animals are unique in this world not only because you can’t see them anywhere else but in Australia, but also because they use only their rear legs to hop around and move.

They also have long tails and very short front legs that look like hands and are close to their abdomens, where they have their pouches.

These pouches are used to carry around their newborns until they grow up and start hopping around themselves.

Furthermore, kangaroos are plant-eating animals that feed mostly on grass, flower petals, and plants, but a few of them might also eat moss and even bugs on occasion.

Their digestive system is similar to that of many farm animals. That means that they also have a stomach with 4 chambers that helps them digest and properly metabolize their food so that they can absorb all the right nutrients.

The Bottom Line

These 7 animals are only some of the vegetarians of the animal kingdom, but their unique characteristics are what made them worthy of including them in this article.

Olivia Kepner