An herbivore is an organism that mostly feeds on plants. Herbivores range in size from tiny insects such as aphids to large, lumbering elephants.
Herbivores are a major part of the food web, a description of which organisms eat other organisms in the wild. Organisms in the food web are grouped into trophic, or nutritional, levels. There are three trophic levels. Autotrophs, organisms that produce their own food, are the first trophic level. These include plants and algae. Herbivores, which eat autotrophs, are the second trophic level. Carnivores, organisms that consume animals, and omnivores, organisms that consume both plants and animals, are the third trophic level.
Autotrophs are called producers, because they produce their own food. Herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores are consumers. Herbivores are primary consumers. Carnivores and omnivores are secondary consumers.
Herbivores often have physical features that help them eat tough, fiberous plant matter. Unlike herbivores and other consumers, autotrophs have tough cell walls throughout their physical structure. Cell walls can make plant material difficult to digest.
Many herbivorous mammals have wide molars. These big teeth help them grind up leaves and grasses. Carnivorous mammals, on the other hand, usually have long, sharp teeth that help them grab prey and rip it apart.
A group of herbivores called ruminants have specialized stomachs. For the digestion of plant matter, ruminant stomachs have more than one chamber. When a ruminant chews up and swallows grass, leaves, and other material, it goes into the first chamber of its stomach, where it sits and softens. There, specialized bacteria break down the food. When the material is soft enough, the animal regurgitates the food and chews it again. This helps break down the plant matter. This partially digested food is called cud. The animal then swallows the cud, and it goes into a second chamber of the stomach. Chemicals in the second chamber digest the plant material further, and it goes into the third chamber. Finally, the digested food goes to the fourth chamber, which is similar to a human stomach. Sheep, deer, giraffes, camels, and cattle are all ruminants.
Picky Eaters
Some herbivores eat any plant matter they can find. Elephants, for example, eat bark, leaves, small branches, roots, grasses, and fruit. Black rhinoceroses also eat a variety of fruits, branches, and leaves.
Other herbivores eat only one part of a plant. An animal that specializes in eating fruit is called a frugivore. Oilbirds, which live in northern South America, are frugivores. They eat nothing but the fruit of palms and laurels. The koala, which is native to Australia, eats little besides the leaves of eucalyptus trees. An animal that eats the leaves and shoots of trees is called a folivore. Pandas, which feed almost exclusively on bamboo, are folivores. Termites are insects that feed mostly on wood. Wood-eaters are called xylophages.
Many insects are herbivores. Some, such as grasshoppers, will eat every part of a plant. Others specialize in certain parts of the plant. Aphids drink sap, a sticky fluid that carries nutrients through the plant. Caterpillars eat leaves. The larvae, or young wormlike forms, of root weevils feed on roots. Asian long-horned beetles tunnel deep into the heart of a tree and eat the wood there. Honeybees feed on nectar and pollen from flowers.
Some herbivores consume only dead plant material. These organisms are called detritivores. Detritivores also consume other dead organic material, such as decaying animals, fungi, and algae. Detritivores such as earthworms, bacteria, and fungi are an important part of the food chain. They break down the dead organic material and recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem. Detritivores can survive in many places. Earthworms and mushrooms live in the soil. There are also detritivore bacteria at the bottom of the ocean.
Plants that are parasites can still be considered herbivores. A parasite is an organism that lives on or in another organism and gets its nutrients from it. Parasitic plants get their nutrients from other plants, called host plants. Dodder, native to tropical and temperate climates around the world, is a parasitic vine that wraps around a host plant. Dodder has rootlike parts called haustoria that attach to the host plant, so it can feed on its nutrients. Eventually, the parasitic dodder feeds on all the nutrients of the host plant, and the host plant dies. The dodder vines then move on to another plant.
Herbivores in the Food Chain
Many herbivores spend a large part of their life eating. Elephants need to eat about 130 kilograms (300 pounds) of food a day. It takes a long time to eat that much leaves and grass, so elephants sometimes eat for 18 hours a day.
Herbivores depend on plants for their survival. If the plant population declines, herbivores cannot get enough food. Beavers, for example, feed on trees and plants that live near water. If the trees are removed to build houses and roads, the beaver population cannot survive.
Similarly, many carnivores need herbivores to survive. Herbivorous zebras and gazelles once traveled in great herds across the savannas of Africa. But these herds have shrunk and are now mostly confined to parks and wildlife reserves. As the number of these herbivores declines, carnivores such as African wild dogs, which prey on them, also decline. Scientists estimate that only 3,000 to 5,500 African wild dogs remain in the wild.
In some places, the disappearance of large carnivores has led to an overpopulation of herbivores. Wolves and cougars are traditional predators, or hunters, of white-tailed deer, which are herbivores. Hunting and expanding human settlements have practically eliminated these predators from the northeastern United States. Without its natural predators, the population of white-tailed deer has skyrocketed. In some areas, there are so many deer that they cannot find enough food. They now frequently stray into towns and suburbs in search of food.

Gorillas are a specialized type of herbivore called a folivore.
Photograph by Chadwic Gifford, MyShot
Watch Those Teeth
Many herbivores have large, dull, flat teeth. These teeth are excellent for chewing and breaking down tough plant material. Carnivores have sharp, narrow teeth that are better for biting and tearing flesh.
However, some herbivores also have strong, sharp teeth. These teeth, such as those on hippopotamuses and gorillas, are not adapted for eating. They have developed for confrontations with other animalsfighting, not feeding.
African wild dog
Noun
medium-sized animal (mammal) native to Africa.
algae
Plural Noun
(singular: alga) diverse group of aquatic organisms, the largest of which are seaweeds.
aphid
Noun
tiny insect that eats the sap of plants.
Asian long-horned beetle
Noun
large insect that feeds on the interior wood of trees, native to eastern Asia.
Noun
organism that can produce its own food and nutrients from chemicals in the atmosphere, usually through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.
Plural Noun
(singular: bacterium) single-celled organisms found in every ecosystem on Earth.
caterpillar
Noun
larva of a butterfly or moth.
cell wall
Noun
tough, rigid, and non-living barrier surrounding the soft cells of most autotrophs, such as plants.
chamber
Noun
sealed compartment.
climate
Noun
all weather conditions for a given location over a period of time.
confine
Verb
to limit or enclose.
consume
Verb
to use up.
consumer
Noun
organism on the food chain that depends on autotrophs (producers) or other consumers for food, nutrition, and energy.
cougar
Noun
large cat native to the Americas. Also called puma, mountain lion, and panther.
cud
Noun
partly digested food that is regurgitated by ruminants, to chew and swallow again.
detritivore
Noun
organism that consumes dead plant material.
digest
Verb
to convert food into nutrients that can be absorbed.
dodder
Noun
parasitic plant with long, vine-like stems that take over the host plant and steal its nutrients.
earthworm
Noun
worm that lives in soil or earth.
elephant
Noun
large mammal with a long trunk, native to Africa and Asia.
eliminate
Verb
to remove.
eucalyptus
Noun
tree native to Oceania.
fiber
Noun
long, thin, threadlike material produced by plants that aids digestive motion when consumed.
folivore
Noun
herbivore that eats mainly leaves.
frugivore
Noun
herbivore that eats mainly fruits.
fungi
Plural Noun
(singular: fungus) organisms that survive by decomposing and absorbing nutrients in organic material such as soil or dead organisms.
gazelle
Noun
small antelope native to Africa and Asia.
grasshopper
Noun
insect with large hind legs used for jumping.
haustoria
Plural Noun
(haustorium) thin, tubular feeding organs of some parasites.
herd
Noun
group of animals.
honeybee
Noun
insect that, in a hive with other honeybees, produces honey.
host
Noun
organism that is home to a parasite.
insect
Noun
type of animal that breathes air and has a body divided into three segments, with six legs and usually wings.
koala
Noun
medium-sized animal (marsupial) that lives almost entirely in eucalyptus trees, native to Australia.
larva
Noun
a new or immature insect or other type of invertebrate.
laurel
Noun
evergreen tree with large leaves, often used as a spice called bay.
molar
Noun
large, flat tooth used for chewing and grinding.
nectar
Noun
sweet plant material that attracts pollinators.
oilbird
Noun
medium-sized, nocturnal bird native to South America.
organism
Noun
living or once-living thing.
overpopulation
Noun
situation where the amount of organisms in an area is too large for the ecosystem to support.
palm
Noun
type of tree with a tall trunk, no branches, and a leafy crown.
parasite
Noun
organism that lives and feeds on another organism.
park
Noun
area of land set aside for recreational use.
plant
Noun
organism that produces its own food through photosynthesis and whose cells have walls.
pollen
Noun
powdery material produced by plants, each grain of which contains a male gamete capable of fertilizing a female ovule.
predator
Noun
animal that hunts other animals for food.
prey
Noun
animal that is hunted and eaten by other animals.
primary consumer
Noun
organism that eats producers; herbivores.
producer
Noun
organism on the food chain that can produce its own energy and nutrients. Also called an autotroph.
regurgitate
Verb
to vomit or throw up undigested or partly digested food.
root
Noun
part of a plant that secures it in the soil, obtains water and nutrients, and often stores food made by leaves.
root weevil
Noun
small insect that feeds on the roots of a plant.
ruminant
Noun
type of herbivorous animal (mammal) with a specialized stomach for digesting plant material.
sap
Noun
fluid that distributes nutrients throughout a plant.
savanna
Noun
type of tropical grassland with scattered trees.
secondary consumer
Noun
organism that eats meat.
skyrocket
Verb
to increase rapidly.
soil
Noun
top layer of the Earth's surface where plants can grow.
stomach
Noun
organ in animals that helps digest food.
suburb
Noun
geographic area, mostly residential, just outside the borders of an urban area.
temperate
Adjective
moderate.
termite
Noun
small insect that feeds on wood.
trophic level
Noun
one of three positions on the food chain: autotrophs (first), herbivores (second), and carnivores and omnivores (third).
tropical
Adjective
existing in the tropics, the latitudes between the Tropic of Cancer in the north and the Tropic of Capricorn in the south.
vine
Noun
plant with a long, narrow stem that can wrap around an object or trail along the ground.
white-tailed deer
Noun
medium-sized deer (mammal) native to the Americas.
wildlife reserve
Noun
area set aside and protected by the government or other organization to maintain wildlife habitat. Also called a nature preserve.
wolf
Noun
mammal related to the dog.
xylophage
Noun
organism that consumes wood.
zebra
Noun
mammal, related to a horse, native to Africa.