# Which mammals are naturally vegetarian? Cows, monkeys, etc.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 24, 2002, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-mammals-are-naturally-vegetarian-cows-monkeys-etc/110596 "2002-05-24T01:55:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-mammals-are-naturally-vegetarian-cows-monkeys-etc/110596/21 "2002-05-24T18:37:08Z")
Most animals enjoy a varied diet, with all except a few _obligate_ herbivores or carnivores mixing a little of everything for additional nutritional value. (A few animals, such as the giant panda and the koala, are tied to one particular food.) Pigs, for example, will gladly eat meat scraps (and probably would eat meat if someone were to feed it to them). Most apes live on fruits and nutritious herbs, but add to it some insects and fresh carrion when it’s available. Your cat, nearly an obligate carnivore, nonetheless eats house plant leaves or grass, not (as most people think) in order to vomit, but because it extracts from them the folic acid which a predominantly meat diet (low in folic acid) tends to leave it short of. After extracting folic acid in its stomach from the leaves or grass blades, it then throws up the remaining plant stuff, which is indigestible to it. ---
**Author:** ![Ms.Lois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Ms.Lois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms.Lois)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-mammals-are-naturally-vegetarian-cows-monkeys-etc/110596/22 "2002-05-24T19:04:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Darwin’s Finch \* > **Naturally herbivorous mammals include … and most of the Cricetid rodents (mice and rats).** First, you’ve combined two separate rodent families into one. The “Cricetidae” are mainly comprised of field mice & voles: (_Peromyscus sp._ (field mice) and _Microtus sp._ (voles). House mice and rats are in the Muridae family: _Rattus sp._ (rats) and _Mus sp._ (house mice). **Virtually all rodents eat not only plants material but invertebrates they find while browsing**. Both Cricetidae and Muridae are quite active eaters of non-plant materials and are generally included in the omnivorous category. Then there are the Moles and Porcupines which eat much more animal matter (grubs, worms, and insects) in their diet than plant materials. Beavers are likewise omnivores, but are often mistakenly labeled as herbavores due to their wood chewing. Members of the Muridae family have an instinctive chewing habit and if the item is palative, it is eaten, regardless of whether it is of plant or animal origin. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-mammals-are-naturally-vegetarian-cows-monkeys-etc/110596/23 "2002-05-24T19:34:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ms. Lois \* > \*\*First, you’ve combined two separate rodent families into one. The “Cricetidae” are mainly comprised of field mice & voles: (_Peromyscus sp._ (field mice) and _Microtus sp._ (voles). \*\* My mistake. Cricetidae is comprised of _New World_ mice and rats. > [@](#): > > **Virtually all rodents eat not only plants material but invertebrates they find while browsing**. Both Cricetidae and Muridae are quite active eaters of non-plant materials and are generally included in the omnivorous category. Virtually all of _any_ group will inadvertently eat insects, etc. while browsing or grazing. Others will turn to a more carnivorous diet if vegetation is scarce (e.g., muskrats) > [@](#): > > \*\*Beavers are likewise omnivores, but are often mistakenly labeled as herbavores due to their wood chewing. \*\* No, beavers are generally labelled as herbivores because of the ferns, grasses, leaves and algae that they eat. In the fall, they also tend to dine on more woody plants. See [here](http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/castor/c._fiber%24narrative.html) for info on the European beaver (_Castor fiber_), and [here](http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/castor/c._canadensis%24narrative.html) for the North American beaver (_Castor canadensis_). Keep in mind that terms such as “carnivore” and “herbivore” are generalizations, not absolutes. Even carnivores such as dogs and cats will occasionally eat grass or other plants. Likewise, animals whose diet _mostly_ consists of plant matter will be termed “herbivores”, even if they do occasionally eat insects, other invertebrates, or the occasional vertebrate. As **Polycarp** mentioned, there are few mammals which are obligate herbivores / carnivores. Again, terms such as “herbivore” denote a preference, not an obligation. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-mammals-are-naturally-vegetarian-cows-monkeys-etc/110596/24 "2002-05-24T19:46:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Polycarp \* > Pigs, for example, will gladly eat meat scraps (and probably would eat meat if someone were to feed it to them). Feral pigs are certainly a minor predator of critters like snakes and ground-nesting birds and there is some evidence that they will also take injured deer and newly dropped fawns ( also kids and lambs ) as well. [QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Ms. Lois \* **Virtually all rodents eat not only plants material but invertebrates they find while browsing**. [QUOTE] Sometimes not just invertebrates. To this day one of the most surreal sights I have ever witnessed in nature, was while walking to school one morning when I was about sixteen. As I strolled casually down the street ( being a casual guy 😉 ), I heard this surprisingly loud crunching noise. I kept walking, trying to fix on where it was coming from. Eventually as I got closer I spotted the source, which mildly freaked me out. It was a cute-as-the-dickens Fox Squirrel sitting up on its hind legs in the gutter of the street, holding a car-flattened Robin in its front legs and enthusiatically munching on it, feathers and all. As I walked by ( including within five feet ), staring the whole while, it never paused, just kept on chewing away. I was in a odd, slightly dazed state of bemusement most of the rest of the day :D. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-mammals-are-naturally-vegetarian-cows-monkeys-etc/110596/25 "2002-05-24T19:47:43Z")
Uhh…Just to be clear - When I said “kids”, I meant baby goats. Not that other kind ;). - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-mammals-are-naturally-vegetarian-cows-monkeys-etc/110596/26 "2002-05-24T20:50:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tamerlane \* > \*\*Uhh…Just to be clear - When I said “kids”, I meant baby goats. Not that other kind ;). > > - Tamerlane \*\* I had a friend from the boondocks who liked to jocularly exclaim, “We ain’t had so much excitement around here since the hog ate baby sister!” ---
**Author:** ![Sakurako](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Sakurako](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sakurako)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-mammals-are-naturally-vegetarian-cows-monkeys-etc/110596/27 "2002-05-24T23:31:22Z")
Wow! Thanks for all your replies. But, I am still wondering if Primates (other than humans) ever catch fish and eat them? Thanks! Sakurako ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-mammals-are-naturally-vegetarian-cows-monkeys-etc/110596/28 "2002-05-25T09:27:21Z")
I thought Bonobos were supposed to be closer to humans than Chimps. I never heard of Bonobos before my Human Evolution class, and I recall being somewhat awake during a video of a DNA cross-testing between the two species (us and them). ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-mammals-are-naturally-vegetarian-cows-monkeys-etc/110596/29 "2002-05-25T16:18:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sakurako \* > Wow! Thanks for all your replies. > > But, I am still wondering if Primates (other than humans) ever > > catch fish and eat them? > > Thanks! > > Sakurako Jane Goodall says Baboons will. Also in relation to Baboons… _On the coast of South Africa, mollusks, crabs and other marine creature are regularly eaten_. From the genus Papio ( Baboon ) entry of Walker’s Mamnmals of the World, fifth edition, vol I ed. by Ronald M. Nowak ( 1991, John Hopkins University Press ). Presumably intertidal fish would fall into the category of “other marine creatures”. **Colibri** : 😃 **ZipperJJ** : To the best of my knowledge you are correct :). But in the past ( less so today ) the Bonobo was just considered a subspecies of Chimpanzee so there is a tendency to lump them together, still. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-mammals-are-naturally-vegetarian-cows-monkeys-etc/110596/30 "2002-05-25T16:43:17Z")
The apes include: [list=1][li]a number of species of gibbon, _Hylobates_ sp.[/li][li]the Siamang, the largest gibbon, _Symphalagus_ (I don’t recall the trivial name)[/li]–these two genera constitute the Hylobatinae [li]the gorilla, _Gorilla gorilla_, with at least two subspecies[/li][li]the orangutan, genus _Pongo_ (I think the trivial name is _pygmaeus_[/li][li]the chimpanzees, genus _Pan_, including the common chimp, _Pan pygmaeus_ and the bonobo, _Pan paniscus_[/li]-- these three genera constitute the Ponginae [/list=1] By genetics-based cladistics _Homo sapiens_ appears to be more closely related to the two genera of _Pan_ than they are to each other, so some modification to the taxonomy here is probably in the works. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-mammals-are-naturally-vegetarian-cows-monkeys-etc/110596.md?page=1)