UNGULATE FRUGIVORES AND THE BROWSER-GRAZER CONTINUUM

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 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. -from Author