Each species of animal has different diet habits and preferences. These habits and behaviours depend on their genetics, the availability of food, and the environment around them.
Commonly, they eat many types of diet, but most of the species diet one of three kinds. They are carnivores, omnivores, or herbivores. Carnivores eat meat; omnivores eat mixed food. Both species and herbivores are those animals that eat grass and other plant material.
Here we will discuss herbivores, animals, and especially those herbivores which eat grass. The animals which eat grass are called “grazing animals” or “grazers”.
Some herbivores primarily eat grass and can live a healthy life with only this diet, but most animals eat an extra diet with this, such as bark, leaves, seeds, and fruit.
In this article, we shall read about some of these animals that eat grass and other different types of food.
Table of Contents
What Animals Eat Grass?
Hippos
The hippos are omnivore animals. They get a major part of their diet from the grass.
Before sunset, these animals eat grass only from the banks of the river and lakes because they like living in the water and cool places during the day.
During the night, they graze six hours every night. They can walk 5km for this purpose. The hippos can eat 140 pounds of grass every night.
The hippos are grazing animals, but they also eat meat in some special scenarios.
In zoos, the hippos eat mixed diets containing some fruits and vegetables while they eat mostly grass.
Cows
Like hippos, the cow is also from grazer animals. A big part of their food consists of grass. They get almost 55 to 60 per cent of their food from grass.
The cows are also ruminating mammals such as cattle, water buffalo, deer, and moose. They have a unique digestive system, which can easily digest the fibrous plant more than the other omnivores.
The cows that eat grass have fewer fats present in their meat. Therefore, their health is better, and their meat is more valuable in the market than grain-eating cows. They eat to live healthily, around 2% food of their total body weight in a day.
Moreover, the cows also eat other things if they are available such as leaves, grain, corn stems, and Oneida.
Rabbits
Some rabbits are bred in houses, and some lives in the forest, but in recent years, they have bred mostly in houses. Their diet mostly consists of grass. The sign of their happiness and joy is hooping or dancing.
Fun fact:
Not only grass but some other things are also a part of their diet, such as leafy weeds and forbs. The major part of their diet consists of grass, and they occasionally eat vegetables that are found near the ground.
If you breed a rabbit in the house and do not know about its diet, try timothy or oat grass.
Deer
The diet of deer consists of many types of crops, grasses, vegetation, and nuts, but most species of deer eat grass, forbs, and trees. They select their diet on the base of the season. To live healthily, a 6 to 8 per cent diet of their body weight requires.
The deer eat things that are easily digestible because their stomach cannot digest a hard diet. Their stomach is no longer like cows, sheep, and tigers.
The deer are herbivores and big animals, especially red deer, but some other things deer can eat, such as eagles, foxes, and other small creatures. This is an interesting and amazing behaviour which is also not able to explain by zoologists.
Camels
The camels mostly live in deserts. Searching for food is difficult for them in this harsh environment, but they do it to ensure their survival. The camels can live in severely hot and cold environments.
The Bactrian and dromedary camel species eat wheat, grains, oats, leaves, and grass. Sometimes, they search diet full of nutritious eating.
The camels are big animals but can eat 9-pound food in a day. Therefore, they are known for surviving on less food and water. They can survive without water and food for almost two weeks.
Kangaroos
Kangaroos are also grass-eating animals. The various species of kangaroos eat various foods. Some species are basically grazing animals; their diet mostly consists of grass, and some get food from different plants and shrubs. Moreover, some small kangaroos eat different foods, such as fungi.
So, the diet of the kangaroos is grass, flowers, leaves, and fruits, but some species are pure grazer animals, such as the eastern kangaroo.
The kangaroos are grazer’s animals, but they are also muscular animals which is amazing. The red kangaroos are prominent in this list.
Bison
Bison is another grazer animal. Before, they lived in the desert, but now they like to live in grazing areas.
Because they eat mostly grass, they are big hoofed animals. Not only this, but they also eat various types of wood plants.
The bison is a very big animal, but only eating grass is not possible.
The bison consume single-celled organisms from grass, which are also called protozoans. These single-celled organisms are very helpful in making muscles and producing protein.
Zebras
The zebra has a black and weight striped pattern. They are closely related to donkeys and horses. They live in savannas, grasslands, woodlands, and scrublands areas. They eat mostly grass, but if it is not available, then they can also eat leaves and young trees.
Their lifestyle differs from other animals; they spend most of their time eating or searching for it. They spend almost 18 hours on this purpose.
Sheep
The Sheep are herbivore animal which digests their food multiple times. Their proper diet is grass, but they eat seeds and leaves for enjoyment.
We can use them for milk and wool. They are ancient and significant grazing animals and can graze a large area of grass. They eat grass without from eject the root.
The sheep can eat 3% grass of their body weight, while the grass in the garden is more nutritive from all the places for them.
Elephants
Elephants are the largest animals on the land. The average weight of an elephant is 6000 kg. They have three species in which African savanna, African forest, and Asian are contained. All three species get their diet from grass.
They divide their diet, such as large volumes of plants, fruit, and roots, into small pieces so that they can easily pick them up from their trunks. And then they eat this.
African elephants can eat fruit and vegetables and anything other, while Asian elephants mostly eat grass as their diet.
Alpacas
The alpacas are pure herbivores animals. They can survive while eating only grass. They eat only various types of plants, such as leaves, bark, grass, and even stems.
If we talk about the quantity of their diet, they should only eat 2 pounds per day of their total body weight.
Protein is necessary for different reasons in mammals like humans, so they prefer pasture grass because more protein is present in this, especially in the spring.
Goats
The goat is an old and significant animal that eats grass. It is a 9000 to 9500-year-old domesticated animal. The number of different breeds of goats is almost over 270. They domesticate for milk and meat.
They eat different varieties of diets, such as grass, maize, and millet, but they like to eat the leaf of plants.
The goat is a browsing animal. They also like to eat leaves, soft shoots, and fruits. They do not like to eat grass because their upper teeth are absent.
Rhinos
The rhinos are large mammals; they are 3 meters (9 feet) long and 1.8 meters (6 feet) high.
The five different species of rhinos find different areas are white rhinoceros, black rhinoceros, Indian rhinoceros, java, and wooly rhinoceros. All are herbivores.
They eat more quantity of food to sustain their body weight. They spend most of their time grazing. They eat almost 120 pounds of grass each day.
However, they also eat leaves, twigs, and branches with the grass.
Fun Fact: Seeing the lifestyle of rhinos tells us that eating and sleeping are just two purposes of a rhino’s life.
Wallabies
Wallabies look like same as kangaroos, and they relate from the same family; both are marsupials. Both are grass-eating animals. They also eat fruits and vegetables according to the seasons.
Because they live in rural areas and cover long distances to search for food, sometimes they cannot search the grass cause of seasonal problems.
The wallabies are small in size from the kangaroos. They mostly graze lonely, but sometimes they can the part of any small animal grazing group.
FAQs (What Animals Eat Grass?)
Can humans eat grass and digest it?
A human can eat grass but in very severe conditions when he needs to do it to ensure their survival. It is because the human digestive system is not suitable for digesting grass. The human stomach also does not contain the necessary enzymes which help them to digest grass. So, humans can eat grass for their survival, but it is not a suitable diet.
Can dogs eat grass?
Dogs are not primarily able to eat grass. Their digestive system cannot digest grass. Rather, if your dog eats grass, it will not get any nutritional help, and if your dog does it regularly, it may cause many issues to its digestive system.
Can insects eat grass?
Yes, there are some insects found which can eat grass. Some grass-eating insects are grubs, chinch bugs, wireworms, and crane flies. These small creatures can be proved very deadly for your garden or courtyard.