Thread: Could hippo's digest meat?

Hello Everyone :-D


I was looking for some wildlife videos, and I found this one "A Hippopotamus is eating Buffalo meat" , which i was really surprised i thought hippo's are Herbivores...

Here's the link :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp-0BtK1zIk

Does this mean that hebivores could digest meat...?

Thanks in Advance [/url]

Herbivores sometimes eat meat when they are suffering from some kind of nutritional deficiency. It is generally not good for their health and their digestive systems aren't properly adapted to eating large amounts of it.

Originally Posted by i_feel_tiredsleepy

Herbivores sometimes eat meat when they are suffering from some kind of nutritional deficiency. It is generally not good for their health and their digestive systems aren't properly adapted to eating large amounts of it.

Thankyou for your kind reply... :-D

So, they could gain energy from meat, this is interesting.What about Carnivores coud they survive with vegetables ?

Originally Posted by Panthera Leo

Thankyou for your kind reply... :-D

So, they could gain energy from meat, this is interesting.What about Carnivores coud they survive with vegetables ?

It's important to note that herbivores can't necessarily survive eating just meat, they would probably get sick pretty quickly. A herbivore eating meat is usually looking for iron or salt, or is simply starving. Carnivores run into similar problems, it isn't unusual for most carnivores to eat the occasional bit of grass for fibre, but they can't truly digest the plant material and get a significant amount of nutriment out of it. Also, these large categories obscure major differences. From working in the veterinary field I'm aware that cats can digest certain plant proteins, while ferrets are unable. Ferrets are also very bad at handling sugar compared to cats. In nature a cat would never be able to consume enough plant protein to survive, but this knowledge has implications for cat food production.

And dogs get sick or die from eating chocolate....

The boundary between carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore is very blurred. Lots of animals cross that boundary very often. For example, nectar eating birds frequently make insects a significant part of their diet. Grass eaters consume insects along with the grass, and no doubt obtain excellent nourishment thereby. Carnivores frequently eat ripe fruit or berries.

Treat the words "carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore" as rough guides only.

Originally Posted by skeptic

The boundary between carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore is very blurred.

Treat the words "carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore" as rough guides only.

You are completely right... For example, in my homeland the dogs usually eat everything other than meat... I guess they can't hunt.