Animals that eat nothing but plants are called herbivorous animals. All animals get their food from plants. But some get it by eating animals that eat plants. The herbivorous animals eat the plants themselves.
In every place where there are any animals at all there must be some plant eaters. If there weren't, there would be no food for the meat eaters.
There are thousands and thousands of kinds of herbivorous animals. Some are small, some are medium-sized, and some are large. Tree hoppers and butterflies and water fleas are herbivorous. So are rabbits and squirrels and many fishes. Horses, cows, camels, giraffes, and zebras are herbivorous, too. There are a great many others besides.
Some animals are herbivorous for only a part of their lives. Frogs and toads eat plants when they are tadpoles. They are meat eaters after they grow up.
Plant eaters have one big advantage over meat eaters. Their food cannot run away from them. They do not have to be such active animals. On the other hand, most plant food is harder to digest than meat. Besides, a plant eater must eat a great deal of food to get all the nourishment it has to have. A horse out on pasture has to eat grass most of the day, while a cat can eat enough meat in a few minutes to last it for hours.
