Nature never fails to deliver surprises. Tigers are atrocious carnivores that love to hunt and feast on that meat. They also eat plants! But then again, why do tigers eat plants?
Eating plants helps tigers with their digestion. It also allows them to cough out small bones and furballs out of their stomach.
Do Tigers Eat Plants?
Tigers are the most ferocious hunters. They have a pretty well reputation for hunting and eating meat. However, their diet has another side. Not many people were aware of this side of their diet long ago. That is, tigers eat plants at regular intervals. They like to chew on soft grass, berries, leaves, etc.
There are videos of tigers enjoying watermelon in captivity. They like to play around with the fruit, and they like it very much.
Why Do Tigers Eat Plants?
Tigers sometimes eat plants, grass, and fruits in the wild because it helps them digest. Eating soft grass allows them to get rid of an unfit stomach or stomach discomfort. Besides, succulent plants and fruits add a new dimension to their diet. They get new vitamins and minerals by eating plants.
Besides, Sometimes they might get an unfit stomach due to excessive meat eating. Tigers can get rid of this kind of stomach problem or stomach discomfort by changing their diet for some time and eating grass once in a while.
Eating grass, leaves, and fruits helps tigers cough out small pieces of bones stuck inside their throat or between their teeth. Chewing on the grass helps them cough out fur balls and the feast residue.
Can Tigers Digest Plants?
Tigers are carnivores and have carnivorous stomachs. As a result, they have predatory digestive systems. Which means their stomachs are not fit for plants and herbs. However, tigers sometimes consume plants and herbs. This helps them with many things in their body. But can tigers digest plants?
Tigers are what scientists call “obligate carnivores”. It means they only depend on eating meat and flesh and blood. Their survival depends on eating meat. Their stomachs cannot digest plants properly.
Plants cannot provide the regular nutrients that obligate carnivores need to survive. However, plants contain some rare and useful nutrients that a carnivore can use once in a while. Changing their diet allows them to gain extra nutrients and helps them physically.
Tigers Don’t Eat Plants Regularly but They Depend on Plants
Tigers are obligate carnivores and do not eat plants and grasses regularly. However, this doesn’t mean that they can survive without herbs.
Simply put, carnivores eat other mammals. Those mammals are herbivores meaning their survival depends on eating plants and grasses. Herbs are what give them the necessary energy, and tigers get their life energy from eating those herbivores. Hence, an indirect relationship is built between tigers and plants.
If somehow all the grass and plants in the world go extinct, then the herbivores would have nothing left for their survival and would fall to their deathbeds. As a result, the carnivores would not have any food left for their survival either and would go extinct in no time.
Besides, the forest and the trees provide shelter for all animals, both carnivores and herbivores. And most importantly, all animals breathe in the oxygen supplied by the trees and the forest. Hence, the ultimate dependency on plants and trees can never be avoided.
Conclusion
Tigers are carnivores and eat meat for survival. However, they eat plants also. But why do tigers eat plants? It is quite shocking yet is a fact. Tigers, too, need the necessary minerals and vitamins that herbs contain. They also need to change their dietary routines once in a while.
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