Herbivores vs Carnivores | Important Differences in 15 Points
Herbivores are the animals which rely on vegetation for food. While carnivores depend on other animals for their food needs. However there are many other variations.
Herbivores vs Carnivores
| Sl.No | Characteristics | Herbivores | Carnivores |
| 1 | Nomenclature | The term ‘herbivores’ comes from the Latin word ‘herba’ means green plants. Herbivores are plant eaters | The term carnivores come from the Latin word ‘carni’ means flesh. Basically, carnivores are flesh-eating animals |
| 2 | Food | Herbivores are those animals whose primary food is green plants or vegetation. | Carnivores are those animals who consume the flesh of other animals as their food. |
| 3 | Teeth | Herbivores possess flat, spade- like canines and dull, short incisors that help them to grind plant leaves, seeds, and grains. | Carnivores have long pointed sharp incisors that assist them in tearing their prey’s flesh. |
| 4 | Mouth size | The herbivores have small mouth opening which only resists these animals to eat plants and grains. The mouth opening is relatively smaller than the size of their skulls. | The mouth opening in carnivores is larger and has a relatively bigger ratio than their skull size. |
| 5 | Chewing | Herbivores undergo extensive chewing to grind well the high fiber plant food. | Carnivores undergo less chewing and can swallow the food as a whole. |
| 6 | Salivary enzymes | The saliva of herbivores hosts carbohydrate digesting enzymes to break large lumps of rich carbohydrate food. | The saliva of carnivores does not have any digestive enzymes. |
| 7 | Digestive tract | The digestive tract of herbivores is longer than carnivores. This is because of the presence of a large amount of fiber in the diet, which is complex to digest. | The digestive tract of carnivores is typically short and simple due to the fact that meat is easily digested. |
| 8 | Stomach type | The stomach is either simple or has multiple chambers, e.g., ruminant animals. | The stomach is simple here |
| 9 | Stomach capacity | The stomach of herbivores comprises less than 30% of the total volume of the digestive tract. | The stomach of carnivores comprises 60%-70% of the total volume of the digestive tract. |
| 10 | Excretion | Excretion is through kidneys and produces moderately concentrated urine. | Excretion is through kidneys but produces extensively concentrated urine. |
| 11 | Facial muscles | The facial muscles in herbivores are well developed. | The facial muscles of carnivores are reduced to allow a larger mouth opening. |
| 12 | Jaw type | The jaws in herbivores are in expanded angle. | The carnivore’s jaws are angled but not expanded. |
| 13 | Jaw movements | The jaw motion has no shear and has motion side to side and front to back. | The jaw motion has shear, and the motion is minimal. The only side to side motion is present. |
| 14 | Nails | Herbivores have flattened nails and blunt hooves | Carnivores have razor-sharp claws instead of hooves to tear apart their prey’s skin and hold it firmly. |
| 15 | Examples of animals | Deer, cows, goats, elephants, horses, giraffes, pandas, sheep, mules, etc. | Cats, lions, tigers, toads, snakes, crocodiles, dogs, hyenas, jackals, wolves, etc. |
