Herbivorous animals are known to feed on plant materials as the main components of their diet. The materials include foliage, soft shoots, leaves, trees and shrubs. However, there exist a deeper categorization of the herbivores.

The sub-categories include the browsers and grazers. To the common eye, it’s difficult to associate animals in any of the group let alone differentiating the two. As such, there is a need to dig deeper into what is a browsing animal and what is a grazing animal.

What is A Browser?

A browser is a type of a herbivorous animal that specializes in eating leaves, fruits of high-growing woody plants, soft shoots and shrubs. A browser is, therefore, an animal that does not feed on grass or other low growing vegetation. They can also be defined as animals that mainly eat non-grasses including herbaceous dicots and woody plants.

Examples of Browsers

Browsing animals include:

• Goats
• Alpine ibex
• Markhor
• Wild goat
• Iberian ibex
• Nubian ibex
• Siberian ibex
• Walia Ibex
• West Caucasian Tur
• Sulaiman Markhor
• Deer

What is A Grazer?

A grazing animal is a herbivore that feeds on plants such as grass and other low-lying vegetation. They also feed on other multicellular organisms like algae.

Grazing is a widely used method in Agriculture where domestic animals are grazed over grassland. The animals then convert the grass and other forage that they consume into milk, meat, and other dairy and beef products.

Examples of Grazing Animals

The most popular grazers include:

• Sheep
• Green sea turtle.
• Bison
• Horses
• Cattle
• Capybara
• Hippopotamus
• Grasshopper
• Giant panda
• Geese
• Rabbits

Difference Between Browser and Grazer

Even though both are herbivores, browsers and grazers have striking differences as follows:

1. Meaning of Browser Vs. Grazer

A browser is a herbivore that mainly feeds on leaves, fruits of high-growing woody plants, soft shoots and shrubs. Such animals do not feed on grass and other low-lying vegetation. Grazers, on the other hand, are animals that feed on grass, multicellular organisms like algae, and other low-lying vegetation.

2. Examples of Browsers Vs. Grazers

Examples of browsing animals are goats, Alpine ibex, Markhor, wild goat, Iberian ibex, Nubian ibex, Siberian ibex, Walia ibex, West Caucasian tur, Sulaiman Markhor, and deers. Grazing animals include sheep, cattle, horses, green sea turtle, bison. Hippos, geese, rabbits and grasshoppers.

3. Type of Food

Browsers main glean leaves, barks, and green stems while grazing animals clip vegetation either at or near the ground level.

Browser Vs. Grazer: Comparison Table

Summary of Browser Vs. Grazer

Each animal, be it domestic or wild belongs to a specific family, species, and other categorization levels. The same case applies to herbivores with the main subcategories being browsers and grazers. With most people rearing the two, it is hard to know whether such categorizations exist let alone placing each animal to the right category. However, getting their distinct characteristics, for example, what they eat makes the process an easy one.

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