The Upside and Downside of Living on Leaves
The fact that gorillas mainly eat leaves explains a lot about their behavior and social structure. Leaves don’t run away, so there’s no need to chase them. Leaves are so abundant in the gorilla’s habitat, and so low in calories, that it’s pointless to fight over them. A tree full of ripe fruit or nuts is another matter, entirely. In general, I’d expect animals that mainly eat leaves to be nicer than animals that mainly eat fruit, because they have less to fight over.
The demands of living on low-energy and often poisonous food means that most folivores live close to the limit of their energy supply.
- They must conserve energy wherever possible, and this often translates into being very slow.
- It is no coincidence that the sloth, the world’s slowest mammal, is a folivore.
- Besides being slow, folivores also spend much of their time resting.
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