In the National Geographic news article titled "Weird Animal Question of the Week: How Do Moose Get So Big Eating Plants" by Liz Langley discusses the reason as to why herbivores, such as elephants and moose, often grow to be enormous sizes whereas carnivores fall behind in that category.
First, Liz Langley points out the colossal size the North American moose who can weigh up to 1,800 pounds yet they commonly consume twigs and other plants. Next, the author explains how on the food chain more and more energy is lost as you go up. Therefore, herbivores receive more energy from plants than carnivores get from other animals since ten percent of energy is lost after each stage in the food chain. Also, Langley describes how an ecosystem filled with carnivores would be insupportable because carnivores would have to eat large quantities of food to survive and their wouldn't be enough food to feed all of them. In addition, the writer mentions that herbivores have to constantly consume food in order to keep their energy up, such as African Elephants who digest close to 300 pounds of food every day.
Finally, Liz Langely concludes by showing that herbivores though large in size, are also large in appetite. She uses the gorilla as an example to show its great size and its need to constantly consume food. The tone of this article was didactic as well as comical. Liz Langely explained very thoroughly why herbivores are typically larger and borrowed information from scientists and a WWF official. towards the end of the article the author is comical in the she describes a gorillas bloated tummy and adds that the audience can joke about it. The article "Weird Animal Question of the Week: How Do Moose Get So Big Eating Plants" was an interesting and informative article about the cause for an herbivore's size.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/11/141119-moose-animals-science-eating-foods-diet/
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