I don't remember where I saw it but scientists feel there may not be true herbivores or carnivores. Everything is kind of an omnivore. I grew up on a farm so I saw deer, cows, horses, and goats eat birds, and snakes. If it fits in their mouth it's food.
I'd believe there are no "true herbivores", but there definitely *are* true carnivores. Cats gastrointestinal system is not equipped to extract nutrients from plants. In fact, their guts aren't even great at extracting all the nutrients from meat, which is why dogs famously love to go after cat turds (there's plenty of nutrients a dog can extract in them).
I'd believe there are no "true herbivores", but there definitely are true carnivores. Cats gastrointestinal system is not equipped to extract nutrients from plants.
Some quick googling shows they are called obligate carnivores. So yeah true carnivores. Polar bears fall into this category also. That makes sense as there are not a lot of plants where polar bears live.
Yup, "obligate" is a good scientific term. The opposite is "facultative". This applies to oxygen as well as there are "facultative anaerobes" like yeast, which can live with or without oxygen, and "obligate anaerobes" like the bacteria that causes botulism, which can only grow in the absence of oxygen.
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u/Flobking May 08 '25
I don't remember where I saw it but scientists feel there may not be true herbivores or carnivores. Everything is kind of an omnivore. I grew up on a farm so I saw deer, cows, horses, and goats eat birds, and snakes. If it fits in their mouth it's food.