thumb|right|200px|[[Elephants are an example of a mammalian folivore.]]

In zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less energy than other types of foods, and often toxic compounds. For this reason, folivorous animals tend to have long digestive tracts and slow metabolisms. Many enlist the help of symbiotic bacteria to release the nutrients in their diet. Additionally, as has been observed in folivorous primates, they exhibit a strong preference for immature leaves which tend to be easier to masticate, are higher in energy and protein, and lower in fibre and poisons than more mature fibrous leaves. Morton (1978) attributed this to the fact that leaves are heavy, slow to digest, and contain little energy relative to other foods. There are, however, many species of folivorous flying insects.

Some bats are partially folivorous; their method of deriving nourishment from leaves, according to Lowry (1989), is to chew up the leaves, swallowing the sap and spitting out the remainder.

Arboreal folivores

thumb|A [[brown-throated three-toed sloth]]

Arboreal mammalian folivores, such as sloths, koalas, and some species of monkeys and lemurs, tend to be large and climb cautiously. Similarities in body shape and head- and tooth-structure between early hominoids and various families of arboreal folivores have been advanced as evidence that early hominoids were also folivorous.

thumb|A [[howler monkey]]

Folivorous primates are relatively rare in the New World, the primary exception being howler monkeys. One explanation that has been offered is that fruiting and leafing occur simultaneously among New World plants. However a 2001 study found no evidence for simultaneous fruiting and leafing at most sites, apparently disproving this hypothesis.

Examples

Examples of folivorous animals include:

thumb|An [[okapi]]

  • Mammals: okapis, elephants, sloths, possums, giant pandas, koalas and various species of monkey, i.e. New World howlers and Old World colobines
  • Birds: The hoatzin of the Amazon region and the kākāpō of New Zealand
  • Reptiles: iguanas
  • Insects: various kinds of caterpillars, sawflies, beetles, leaf miners and Orthoptera
  • Others: many land gastropod species (snails and slugs)

See also

  • Consumer-resource systems
  • Leaf miner, the folivorous strategy of many insects

References

  • wordquests.info