Ungulate Frugivores and the Browser-Grazer Continuum

Abstract

Feeding strategies of ungulates are usually classified along a browser grazer continuum which ranges from browsing through to grazing ungulates, but does not accurately include frugivores. However, to understand the evolution of ungulate feeding it is necessary to have a classification that realistically incorporates the full range of ungulate feeding strategies. Such a classification can be described as a linear continuum that ranges from fruit feeders through to browsers and then grazers. Purely frugivorous ungulates are restricted to tropical forests and have consistently small body sizes. Pure grazers on the other hand are absent from tropical forests and are found most commonly in grassland and savannas. Browsing is the most common ungulate feeding strategy and is found in ungulates with a wide range of body sizes and is common in all habitat types. Fruit differs greatly from browses and grasses and adds additional support to the proposed frugivore-browser-grazer classification.