Question

Define the term herbivores and give some characteristics of herbivores organisms.

Answer 1

Hint: All living organisms have been grouped under various categories in order to have their enhanced and systematic studies. Such an approach uses various characteristics as segregating factors such as habitat, morphology, etc.

Complete Answer
In very simple words, Herbivores can be defined as a plant-eating animal. They completely depend on plants to extract their nutrition. They occupy the lowest level of a food pyramid as they depend on the easiest possible nutritional source. They are generally preyed upon by higher organisms.

Following are a few of the characteristics of herbivores:

Elegant teeth structure: Herbivores have unique designs of teeth. They are blunt and wide, which helps them in chewing and grabbing plants off the ground. Also, these teeth are of the same size and order that provides a better chewing platform for the plant parts. For example: Cow, Giraffe, Horse, etc.

Rumination: It is a natural phenomenon in which an organism chews the food in two repeated cycles such that first, they partially chew and swallow the food. After a while they bring this food back to their mouth cavity to restart the chewing process and thus completely digest the food. Such an approach is practiced by these animals in order to intake larger amounts of food by reducing chewing time at a moment and later reprocessing it to ensure proper breakdown of every bolus.

Body size: Herbivorous insects such as butterflies, have even better morphology that allows them to sip in their nutritious fluid (such as nectar) out of the plant body without chewing them.

Note:
Herbivorous organisms are highly diverse in terms of body size. They can be as large as Giraffes or as small as a butterfly. Also, it is worthy to note that irrespective of their size they occupy a major part of a food pyramid and thus, form its most important level, also called primary consumers.