Question

How do herbivores differ from carnivores?

Answer 1

All sorts of animals live together in various ecosystems. Within this natural community, the animals eat specific diets which connect them together in the food chain. The three diets include animals that eat only plants, those eat only meat, and animals that eat both meat and plants. Animals that eat only plants are known as herbivores, and animals that eat only meat are called carnivores.

Complete answer:
Carnivores feed on omnivores, herbivores, and other carnivores in the ecosystem. To control the populations of other animals, a natural community depends on the presence of carnivores. Carnivorous animals have sharp teeth and strong jaws to enable them to rip and tear prey. These animals often have sharp and long claws that they also use to tear prey.
With a diet consisting of only plants, herbivores can be surprisingly large animals. Examples of large herbivores are: buffalo, cows and elk. These animals eat grass, aquatic vegetation, tree bark and shrubby growth. Usually, herbivores have special biological systems to digest a variety of plants. Also, they have specially designed teeth that enable them in ripping off plants and then grinding them with the flat molars. In the food chain, carnivores depend on sufficient prey, to give them the food they need.
In an ecosystem, if the population of other carnivores or the herbivore population declines, carnivores may not survive. Carnivores animals eat shrubs, grass, seeds, and nuts. An ecosystem should provide abundant plants to sustain the herbivores, and many of them spend the majority of their lives eating to stay alive. If availability of plants declines, herbivores may not have enough food to eat. This could result in a decline in herbivore numbers, in turn which would also impact carnivores. Digestive systems of herbivores are different from omnivores hence; omnivores cannot eat all of the plants that an herbivore eats.

Note: Large carnivores include mountain lions and wolves. A large carnivore might hunt down some large herbivores such as deer and elk. Medium-sized carnivores are hawks and snakes, and these animals typically feed on the birds, rodents, eggs, insects, frogs. Examples of small carnivores are some smaller birds and toads. These carnivores may eat worms and insects. Small herbivores include chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, and mice. Also, herbivores can be medium-sized animals such as sheep and goats, which eat shrubby grasses and vegetation.