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Frugivore seed dispersal is a common phenomenon in many ecosystems. However, it is not a highly specific type of plant–animal interaction. For example, a single species of frugivorous bird may disperse fruits from several species of plants, or a few species of bird may disperse seeds of one plant species. [3]
Herbivory is of extreme ecological importance and prevalence among insects.Perhaps one third (or 500,000) of all described species are herbivores. [4] Herbivorous insects are by far the most important animal pollinators, and constitute significant prey items for predatory animals, as well as acting as major parasites and predators of plants; parasitic species often induce the formation of galls.
Vegetable foods include cereals, potatoes, roots, fruit, acorns, berries and seeds while the animal part is predominantly earthworms and insect larvae, which the bird finds by probing the ground with its strong bill. It also eats beetles, spiders, millipedes, slugs, snails, small mammals, small birds, their eggs and young, and occasionally ...
Oligophagy is a term for intermediate degrees of selectivity, referring to animals that eat a relatively small range of foods, either because of preference or necessity. [2] Another classification refers to the specific food animals specialize in eating, such as: Carnivore: the eating of animals Araneophagy: eating spiders; Avivore: eating birds
Birds' diets are varied and often include nectar, fruit, plants, seeds, carrion, and various small animals, including other birds. [78] The digestive system of birds is unique, with a crop for storage and a gizzard that contains swallowed stones for grinding food to compensate for the lack of teeth. [ 147 ]
Animals that only eat plants are called herbivores, with those that mostly just eat fruits known as frugivores, [50] leaves, while shoot eaters are folivores (pandas) and wood eaters termed xylophages (termites). [51] Frugivores include a diverse range of species from annelids to elephants, chimpanzees and many birds.
Nectar-feeding is widespread among birds, but no species consumes nectar exclusively. Most combine it with insectivory for a mixed diet. Of particular interest are three lineages of specialized nectarivorous birds: the hummingbirds (Trochilidae), sunbirds (Nectariniidae) and honeyeaters (Meliphagidae). These groups have adapted to permit a ...
Many species also opportunistically take larger prey, including birds and bird eggs, rodents, and more rarely carrion. Even more rarely, herons eating acorns, peas, and grains have been reported, but most vegetable matter consumed is accidental. [8] Black herons holding wings out to form an umbrella-like canopy under which to hunt