• Question: Do carnivore species need meat to survive or they just like it and will live as good eating plants?

    Asked by Gala to Carrie, Cedric, Ellen, Rupert on 15 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Ellen Williams

      Ellen Williams answered on 15 Mar 2017:


      Some carnivores do need meat to survive because their bodies just cannot digest plant material efficiently enough – these are called obligate carnivores. Omnivores such as ourselves could survive without meat if we needed to (just look at vegetarians and vegans!)

    • Photo: Cedric Tan

      Cedric Tan answered on 15 Mar 2017:


      Very good question. It has got to do with the ability to process meat versus plants. Carnivores have evolved to adapt to eating meat with their sharp teeth, claws and digestion, like the stomach produces acid and certain molecules called enzymes to break down meat. Herbivores, on the other hand, which feed on plants have teeth that are able to crush through the plant stems and leaves, and the stomach has another set of enzymes and digestive molecules called cellulase that will break down the cellulose of the plant cells. Carnivores lack these abilities.

      Therefore, carnivores, because of their adaptation and inability to feed on plants or effectively use the plants nutrients are unable to survive on plants alone and would need meat to survive.

      Omnivores like humans have a mixture of both abilities to help us use the nutrients in both plants and animals. I hope this answers your question.

    • Photo: Carrie Ijichi

      Carrie Ijichi answered on 15 Mar 2017:


      Most animals we refer to as carnivores need to get most of their nutrition from meat but can get some goodness from vegetation. Dogs are a really good example of this. There aren’t very many animals that are completely carnivorous – this means they can’t absorb any of the goodness from vegetation and need meat to get this. Cats are a perfect example of this which means that if they get fed scraps from the table they won’t be hungry (because there is something in their stomach) but they will probably be malnourished because they’re not getting pure meat.

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