What is the difference between browsers and grazers

Secondly, grazers and browsers are adapted differently for their feeding habits. For instance, grazers have a smaller true stomach compared to the browsers. Additionally, the mouths of the grazers are small and have stiffer lips compared to the browsers whose mouths are wider and have long tongues to reach the high-growing plants. Giraffe browsing on Acacia on the Masai Mara.

Sharon Omondi October 11 in Environment. Grazer A browser is a herbivore that mainly feeds on leaves, fruits of high-growing woody plants, soft shoots and shrubs. Examples of Browsers Vs. Type of Food Browsers main glean leaves, barks, and green stems while grazing animals clip vegetation either at or near the ground level. Browser Vs. Grazer Each animal, be it domestic or wild belongs to a specific family, species, and other categorization levels.

Author Recent Posts. Sarah Brown. University of Massachusetts Amherst. She also has Certificate in Statistical Applications. She has led a team of experts in establishing the impacts of subsidized sewerage connections in rural slums in Kenya under the umbrella of the World Bank. Latest posts by Sarah Brown see all. Help us improve. The plant material eaten is known as browse and is naturally taken from the source.

In temperate regions, the owners of the browser animals take the browse before it falls, dries it, and stores it for supplement during the winter season. Browser animals are adapted to feed on vegetation that is high as they have long necks which enable them to reach the high vegetation. The effect the browser animals have on plants depends on plant species. This may make a deer eat all photosynthetic tissues and the reproductive parts of the plant at once hence causing a negative impact on the plant.

Browsers may also impact the other animals negatively whereby they may eat even the ground vegetation making the grazers not have something to feed on. Grazers are animals that feed on low vegetation such as grass. They include both large animals such as hippopotamus to small animals such as snails.

Feeding entirely on grass is referred to as graminivore. Horses, cattle, hippopotamus, grasshoppers, and geese are examples of graminivores. The urine and feces from grazers recycle nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and other nutrients to return them to the soil which eventually assists in the growth of other plants.

Giraffe have loose social structures and herds can vary in size - even on a daily basis. In Kruger, the average herd size is less than 20 individuals. The biggest recorded herd in Kruger numbered 46 animals, smaller than the herds of up to 70 in East Africa. Giraffe herds have a constantly changing leadership of both males and females. They are territorial, ranging over an area of between 20km and 70km, depending on the availability of food.

The solitary giraffe one often sees in Kruger are usually rather pungent-smelling old males which can no longer attract females. Behaviour Shy browser that rarely emerges into the open; usually solitary but sometimes gathers in groups at water holes; not often seen in Kruger. Food Almost exclusively a grazer; will graze on most grass species and moribund grasses; have been seen browsing when grass is unavailable.

Behaviour Average herd size in Kruger is , consisting of smaller clans dominated by one or more older bulls; young bulls form bachelor herds; old bulls often solitary; buffalo mix easily with other grazers; dangerous when cornered; known to kill lions with their horns.

Where best to see Buffalo in Kruger Grazer; open grasslands, particularly sweetveld around Satara and Orpen, as well as river valleys and around permanent water sources throughout the Park. Behaviour Found in herds of varying sizes from three to five with dominant male, up to groupings of 50 in the open grasslands; communally grazes with other species.

Where best to see Burchells Zebra in Kruger Grazer; open sweetveld grasslands but also occur throughout Kruger. Characteristics Dark grey bovid with pronounced shoulders which in males are up to 1,5m high; males weigh up to kg; approximately 17 in Kruger.

Behaviour Average herd size in Kruger is between four and six individuals lead by a dominant bull; clans often join in larger groupings; social grazer often with impala and zebra; very keen nose for water. Where best to see Blue Wildebeest in Kruger Grazer; open grassland and lightly wooded savanna throughout Kruger.

Antelope Most of Africa's herbivores can be classified as either grazers of grass or browsers of leaves off trees. Some animals, like the elephant and impala, do Black Rhino Bulls weigh up to 1 Kg and cows about Kg. As such this species is smaller than the White Rhino. It can further be distinguished from the White