[Emilio Romero (OP)]

Why would two carnivores fight viciously over a piece of meat but two herbivores will not fight over a bundle of leaves?
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emilio

[atrox]

well, try to get a bundle of leafs and then try to catch a rat...maybe then you know ;-)

Normally its much easier to just get another leaf, than to fight for a special one... they are just not worth the fight, because it would cost much more energy than to just get another one.
But ist pretty hard to catch prey. Most predators depent on the energy of it, if they finnally succeded.


(btw. just watch my rabbits fight for a carrot... so sometimes they do fight ^^)

[chris]

That's right. The herbivores have plenty of food to chose from, so usually fighting is reserved for mate selection; carnivores on the other hand must expend significant energy in catching their dinner, and for this reason they must achieve a return on their energy investment or they'll die. It's therefore much more valuable to them, and so worth defending.

Chris

[syhprum]

The squirrels and Turtle doves in my garden apparently cannot read

[jeffreyH]

Are they teenage mutant ninja turtle doves?

[syhprum]

They will fight a crust of bread but look fat enough to make a good meal