Question

Why are small intestines longer in herbivores as compared to carnivores?

Answer 1

Herbivores:

1. Physiologically and anatomically, herbivores are designed to consume plant matter.
2. The mutualistic gut flora seen in the majority of herbivores facilitates the digestion of plant materials.
3. Because animals can subsist only on plant stuff, herbivores are the main consumers in a food chain.

Carnivores:

1. Carnivores have unique dental structures that enable them to seek and devour prey.
2. The majority of predators move quickly because they must pursue and exhaust their prey.

Herbivores' small intestines are longer than those of carnivores:

1. Herbivores eat food made of plants and grass, which contains a lot of cellulose and requires a lot of time to digest.
2. Depending on what they consume, different animals' small intestines are of different lengths.
3. To be digested as it is absorbed from green plants, cellulose requires a longer small intestine in herbivores.