the.com/herbivory
Eating plants for a living, which sounds peaceful until you see the arms race it started.
means The practice or ecological strategy of feeding on plants, whether by insects, livestock, or dinosaurs the size of buildings.
from Built in the 19th century from Latin herba, 'grass' or 'green plant' (the source of our 'herb'), plus -vory, from vorare, 'to devour,' the same root that gives us 'carnivore' and 'voracious.' So herbivory is literally 'plant-devouring' — scientific Latin assembled to sort the eaters of the living world by menu.
- origin arms race
- drove plants to invent thorns, toxins, and tannins
- biggest practitioners
- termites and cows outeat every carnivore combined
- ecosystem role
- turns sunlight into meat, one bite at a time
- extreme version
- koalas eat leaves so toxic they sleep 20 hours digesting