Browsing is a type of predation in which a herbivore (or, more narrowly defined, a folivore) feeds on leaves, soft shoots, or fruits of high growing, generally woody, plants such as shrubs.[1] This is contrasted with grazing predation, usually associated with animals feeding on grass or other low vegetation. An example of this dichotomy are goats (which are browsers) and sheep (which are grazers); these two closely related ruminants utilize dissimilar feeding preferences.
Browse
The plant material eaten is known as browse [2] and is naturally taken straight from the plant, though the owners of livestock such as goats and deer may cut twigs or branches for feeding to the stock [3]. The circumstances in which this is done are two. In temperate regions, browse is taken before leaf fall, dried, stored and fed to stock in the winter to supplement the more meagre supply of that season. In tropical regions, in time of drought for example, herdsmen may cut branches from beyond the reach of their stock, as forage at ground level. In the tropical regions, where population pressure leads to resort to this as other than a short-term emergency measure, there is a danger of permanent depletion of the supply, though the giraffe has evolved to exploit this higher-level foliage naturally.
References
- ^ Chapman, J.L. and Reiss, M.J., Ecology: Principles and Applications. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1999. p. 304. (via Google books, Feb 25, 2008)
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary: Browse.
- ^ St. John's College, Oxford : Forest Glossary: Browse, Browsewood.
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