List of herbivorous animals

Types of herbivorous feeding strategies

Feeding strategy	Diet
Algivores	Algae
Frugivores	Fruit
Folivores	Leaves
Nectarivores	Nectar
Nucivores	Nuts
Granivores	Seeds
Palynivores	Pollen
Mucivores	Plant fluids, i.e. sap
Xylophages	Wood

Herbivores are animals that eat plants. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which a heterotrophic organism consumes other organisms, principally autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in general are known as 1st level consumers.

Invertebrates

Insects

Herbivory is of extreme ecological importance and prevalence among insects. Perhaps one third (or 500,000) of all described species are herbivores.

• Larval mayflies are generally herbivorous; adults have short lifespans and do not eat at all.
• Most members of the order Orthoptera; for instance, most grasshoppers and katydids are herbivores
• Butterflies
• Many beetles of the Scarabaeoidea, including many scarabs, like the goliath and rhinoceros beetles (e.g., the hercules beetle), and all of the stag beetles
• The jewel beetles (family Buprestidae)
• Certain ladybugs (family Coccinellidae): The subfamily Epilachninae, comprising 1/6 of all ladybug species, is entirely herbivorous, including members such as the Mexican bean beetle and the bryony ladybird.
• The leaf beetles (family Chrysomelidae)
• The weevils (family Curculionidae)
• Almost all adult bees (clade Anthophila), including mason bees, honeybees, bumblebees, sweat bees, and carpenter bees
• All true bugs (order Hemiptera) outside of Heteroptera are herbivores, including cicadas, leafhoppers, treehoppers, planthoppers, aphids, scale insects, and whiteflies
• Most Heteropterans are also herbivorous, including most of the leaf-footed bugs, seed bugs and their relatives, plant bugs, and shield, stink, and burrowing bugs and their relatives

Other invertebrates

• Most terrestrial isopods (woodlice) are detritivores of plant matter
• Millipedes, with scarce exceptions, are also detritivores of plant matter
• Bagheera kiplingi, a jumping spider
• Garden snails and slugs

Fish

Herbivorous fish play a key role in maintaining healthy ecosystems, especially in tropical reefs, where they promote a balance between corals and macroalgae. Herbivorous fish include:

• Acanthurus lineatus or lined surgeonfish (also known as blue-banded surgeonfish, blue-lined surgeonfish, clown surgeonfish, pajama tang, striped surgeonfish, and zebra surgeonfish)
• Acanthurus nigrofuscus, known as the lavender tang, brown tang, or spot-cheeked surgeonfish
• Zebrasoma scopas, known as the brown tang, two-tone tang, scopas tang or brush-tail tang.
• The unicornfishes (Nasinae) genus is primarily herbivorous.
• Most of the nearly 100 species of the parrotfish family are herbivores.
• Grass carp, so named for its diet of aquatic plants.
• The various genera of pacu are mostly herbivorous.
• The majority of Loricariidae, including most pleco and Otocinclus species, are predominantly or exclusively herbivorous.

Amphibians

Unusually for tetrapods, herbivory is rare among extant adult lissamphibians. There are, however, many larval and a few adult amphibians which take significant plant matter:

• At least two species of siren (and possibly the entire family) will consume algae, though they are still primarily carnivorous or omnivorous
• The Indian green frog is mostly herbivorous
• Xenohyla truncata, the Izecksohn's Brazilian treefrog, is significantly frugivorous
• The majority of frog tadpoles are primarily herbivorous

Reptiles

Squamates (lizards, snakes, and worm lizards)

All snakes and the majority of non-snake Squamates (lizards) are carnivorous. However, some degree of herbivory is relatively common among lizards. Perhaps 12% of lizards have diets which are >10% herbivorous. Dedicated herbivory, with plants comprising >90% of the diet, occurs in perhaps ~1% of lizards, though estimates vary.

• Iguanas (family Iguanidae) are overwhelmingly herbivores; members such as the rhinoceros iguana, marine iguana, green iguana, Lesser Antillean iguana, chuckwallas, desert iguana, and Galápagos land iguana are virtually exclusively herbivorous
• Members of the family Liolaemidae are herbivores
• The Panay, Northern Sierra Madre forest, and Gray's monitor lizards are the only three species of herbivorous Varanid
• Species of the Agamid genus Uromastyx, the spiny-tailed lizards, are herbivores
• Certain skinks; the Solomon Islands skink is exclusively herbivorous. King's skink is also primarily a herbivore. The extinct Cape Verde giant skink was herbivorous.

Chelonians (turtles/tortoises)

• Tortoises, comprising the family Testudinidae, are all almost exclusively herbivorous
• Adult green sea turtles are herbivorous, uniquely among sea turtles

Dinosaurs

• Sauropods
• Ornithischians
  • Marginocephalia
    • Ceratopsians
    • Pachycephalosaurs
  • Thyreophora
    • Stegosaurs
    • Ankylosaurs
  • Ornithopods
    • Hadrosaurs
• Theropods
  • Therizinosaurs
  • Birds
    • Waterfowl: The majority of ducks, geese, swans, and their relatives are herbivores. The main exceptions are the sea ducks.
    • Game birds: Turkeys, peafowl, pheasants, ptarmigans, quails, junglefowl, and their relatives are largely or exclusively herbivorous, though several taxa are also quite omnivorous
    • Hoatzin
    • Parrots

Mammals

Herbivory is quite common among mammals, with herbivores occuring across diverse lineages and in a large variety of sizes, bodyplans, and niches. Both large and small herbivorous mammals are often important prey species for various predators, though the largest, such as the so-called "pachyderms", are generally safe from predation as healthy adults. Large, herbivorous mammals came to dominate global ecosystems in the Cenozoic, and, though vastly reduced in number, they continue to be key features of certain modern ecosystems, such as the Maasai Mara and Kaziranga National Park.

Marsupials

• Most of the extant Diprotodonts, including:
  • the extant Vombatiformes (wombats and koalas), as well as many extinct members such as Diprotodon, Zygomaturus, and Palorchestes
  • almost all extant Macropodiformes, such as kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroos, tree kangaroos, and the Potoroids (though this last group also consumes large amounts of fungi and generally some insects)
  • most Phalangeriformes are mostly or wholly herbivorous, including the greater glider, honey possum, and common spotted cuscus
• A relatively small number of Didelphimorphs are primarily herbivorous, such as the woolly opossums
• The recently extinct entire family of pig-footed bandicoots (Chaeropodidae, with one genus, Chaeropus) was probably herbivorous

Placental mammals

• Xenarthrans
  • Certain extinct Cingulates, such as the Pampatheres and Glyptodonts
  • All living and extinct sloths (Folivora), including the so-called ground sloths
• Boreoeutherians
  • Both species of colugo (Dermoptera) are herbivores
  • The great majority of primates:
    • The vast majority of lemurs are largely or exclusively herbivorous, including the ring-tailed lemur, the sifakas, the indri, and the bamboo lemurs
    • The three species of potto have diets which are ~90% herbivorous
    • Slow lorises are majority (and possibly even nearly exclusively) herbivorous, though study findings differ
    • Some bushbabies; needle-clawed bushbabies are gum specialists, and the Bioko Allen's bushbaby is primarily frugivorous
    • The vast majority of ape and monkey species (the Simiiformes) are wholly or primarily herbivorous, including:
      • The majority of the New World monkeys (though several taxa consume insects, some as a primary food source); predominantly or wholly herbivorous New World monkeys include the spider monkeys, muriquis, woolly monkeys, howler monkeys, sakis, and uakaris, among others
      • Virtually all Old World monkeys (sensu stricto, excluding apes):
        • Vervet monkeys
        • Several macaques are overwhelmingly herbivorous, such as the Tibetan, Japanese, Barbary, and Assam macaques
        • Although baboons are famously regarded as omnivores and will occasionally consume animals, studies consistently find species, including the yellow, olive, chacma, and hamadryas baboons, to have diets which are ~99% herbivorous
        • Mandrill and drill diets are both >95% herbivorous
        • Geladas
        • All of the Colobines are (or are nearly) purely herbivorous, including the black-and-white colobuses, gray langurs, snub-nosed monkeys, and the proboscis monkey
      • All wild apes:
        • Gibbon (family Hylobatidae) diets are ~90% herbivorous
        • Orangutan diets can range from <90% to ~99% herbivorous, depending on various factors

• Hominidae (humans)
• Ungulata
  • Odd-toed ungulates, including horses, asses, and zebras, rhinoceroses, and tapirs. Like many mammalian herbivores, they are hindgut fermenters.
  • Even-toed ungulates such as camels, pigs, hippopotamuses, deer, bovids, and giraffes. Many are ruminants, animals with compartmentalized stomachs for processing plant material.
• Paenungulata (Proboscidea, Sirenia, Hyracoidea)
• Carnivora (bears)
• Castorimorpha (kangaroo rats, gophers, beavers)
• Lagomorpha (Leporidae, Ochotonidae)

See also

• Mesocarnivore
• Hypercarnivore
• Herbivore
• Omnivore
• Piscivore
• Veganism
• Vegetarianism