Grazers and Browsers
by Eric Peterson
| Welcome to Nature’s Cafe. The vegetarian menu here supports an amazing variety of grasses, forbs, shrubs and trees. Now how does a plant eating animal choose from all these many options? |
| It depends on what animal we’re talking about, and they are all well equipped to deal with their decision. Cattle and elk are grazers. The majority of their diet comes from grasses. Grasses have thick cell walls, which take time to break down. So cattle and elk have big, wide mouths and a slow, but very efficient digestive system. That way they can eat a lot of grass and extract all the nutrients. |
| Pronghorns, deer, and goats are browsers. The majority of their diets are made up of forbs, shrubs, and trees. In particular, they tend to choose the most nutritious parts of woody plants – the leaves, buds, flowers, and fruits. |
| In general, these plant parts are more nutritious than grasses, but there are some drawbacks. First of all, browsers have to pick and choose the nutritious, fleshy parts from the branches. Their small, pointed mouths help them do this. Second, many forbs and shrubs contain toxins. So many browsers have chemicals in their saliva that deactivate the toxins. |
| These differences in the plants and the animals that feed on them are an important element of Wyoming’s biodiversity. |
| From the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service, I’m Eric Peterson. |