Almost all herbivores are opportunistic carnivores; deer eat birds. Presumably some great swimmers thought the krill (or some other sea life) represented a great opportunity
Eh, the giant panda isn’t the best example. It’s digestive system is still optimized for meat, which is why the need to eat a lot of bamboo and eat very specific parts of it that have a similar nutritional makeup as meat. They wouldn’t be able to survive eating other plants, but they could survive (and thrive) eating meat.
Was the common ancestor carnivorous or herbivorous?
Almost all herbivores are opportunistic carnivores; deer eat birds. Presumably some great swimmers thought the krill (or some other sea life) represented a great opportunity
It ate krill
Just krill me now.
🍤
Weird to think that deer descended from krill eaters. Maybe that’s why they love salt licks so much.
I remember reading that the common ancestors of all birds was carnivorous. Basically every herbivore bird descended from carnivores.
See also the giant panda and the red panda.
Eh, the giant panda isn’t the best example. It’s digestive system is still optimized for meat, which is why the need to eat a lot of bamboo and eat very specific parts of it that have a similar nutritional makeup as meat. They wouldn’t be able to survive eating other plants, but they could survive (and thrive) eating meat.
Swim away!