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Post by creature386 on Jun 19, 2019 22:24:51 GMT 5
An apple cannot die, it does not meet the criteria of a living being.
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rock
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Post by rock on Jun 19, 2019 22:26:07 GMT 5
An apple cannot die, it does not meet the criteria of a living being. how about other herbivores like elephants who eat trees , the tree is alive too , also i do not know if you need to eat meat to be a predator , parasites are considered predators by eating germs  |
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Post by creature386 on Jun 19, 2019 22:30:11 GMT 5
If it kills the tree, maybe it is an accidental predator, but pulling off leaves (or even branches) won't kill a tree.
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Post by dinosauria101 on Jun 19, 2019 22:57:07 GMT 5
An apple cannot die, it does not meet the criteria of a living being. how about other herbivores like elephants who eat trees , the tree is alive too , also i do not know if you need to eat meat to be a predator , parasites are considered predators by eating germs The closest to that I can think of is an herbivore accidentally eating meat Anyway, fruits are inanimate objects |
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rock
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Post by rock on Jun 19, 2019 23:24:57 GMT 5
how about other herbivores like elephants who eat trees , the tree is alive too , also i do not know if you need to eat meat to be a predator , parasites are considered predators by eating germs The closest to that I can think of is an herbivore accidentally eating meat Anyway, fruits are inanimate objects i forgot , but anyhow would you consider a elephant eating a tree as the elephant as the predator and the tree as the prey? |
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Post by dinosauria101 on Jun 19, 2019 23:26:32 GMT 5
The closest to that I can think of is an herbivore accidentally eating meat Anyway, fruits are inanimate objects i forgot , but anyhow would you consider a elephant eating a tree as the elephant as the predator and the tree as the prey? Given what creature said.......probably not |
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rock
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Post by rock on Jun 19, 2019 23:41:01 GMT 5
i forgot , but anyhow would you consider a elephant eating a tree as the elephant as the predator and the tree as the prey? Given what creature said.......probably not i would have to say yes if we use the technical defination which is predators are animals that eat anything that is living , if that is true then yes herbivores are predators by the comman defination then herbivores are not predators. |
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Post by creature386 on Jun 20, 2019 0:00:17 GMT 5
The technical definition of predators are animals that kill living things in order to eat them.
Everything else is grazing or parasitism.
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rock
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Post by rock on Jun 20, 2019 0:32:44 GMT 5
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Post by creature386 on Jun 20, 2019 0:36:14 GMT 5
Exactly what I said. Most herbivores do not kill the plants they consume and hence do not count as predators.
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rock
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Post by rock on Jun 20, 2019 1:00:53 GMT 5
Exactly what I said. Most herbivores do not kill the plants they consume and hence do not count as predators. but the elephant kills the tree by pulling it out the ground and eating it |
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Post by creature386 on Jun 20, 2019 1:07:48 GMT 5
That's why I said "most". I'm not sure if this happens regular enough in order for the whole species to qualify as a predatory one.
I mean, they don't have to do that in order to get to the good bits.
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rock
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Post by rock on Jun 20, 2019 1:09:17 GMT 5
That's why I said "most". I'm not sure if this happens regular enough in order for the whole species to qualify as a predatory one. I mean, they don't have to do that in order to get to the good bits. i can agree with that, also many frugivores are omnivores as well like monkeys and chimpanzees , the word frugivore can be a herbivore or a omnivore who,s prefered food is fruit or vegetables , nuts or grains . |
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Post by theropod on Jun 20, 2019 23:55:12 GMT 5
I actually know at least one botanist who refers to herbivory as "predation". That of course stems from their very plant-centric viewpoint. From the perspective of a plant, a herbivore trying to eat it fills the role a predator fills for its prey, and plants have adapted in various ways to deter such "predation", which is equivalent to anti-predator strategies among animals. So from a botanical viewpoint, this term makes sense.
From a zoological viewpoint, the things are quite different.
Firstly, this would make almost all animals predators one way or another (with the exception of maybe detritivores exclusively feeding on dead matter), making the term essentially useless. Secondly, the adaptations required from an animal to feed on plants are very different from those required for feeding on animals (we’ve gone over this before…). Thirdly, a herbivore usually doesn’t fulfill the criterion of killing its prey, certainly not intentionally, which is often used to distinguish between predation and parasitism (from this viewpoint, one could plausibly refer to herbivores as parasites of plants).
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Post by dinosauria101 on Jun 21, 2019 0:32:03 GMT 5
(from this viewpoint, one could plausibly refer to herbivores as parasites of plants). Now THAT sounds more like it! rock What do you think? |
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