Video: Animal Eating Habits

Some animals eat all day long. Others can go without food for ages. Did you know that some of them are real foodies? Can you tell which animals will be in this video? Hit the play button! We have collected some incredible facts for you!

Here we offer a transcript of the video:

It is really amazing how much some animals can eat on one day. Giraffes hoover up 34 kg of leaves per day, the white rhino puts away 110–130 lb (50–60 kg) of grass. The elephant even manages more than twice as much. It munches about 280 pounds (130 kg) of plants every day to get enough energy.

Find out more:
7 Animals with Unusual Eating Habits

Hunger Artists

Many people think that camels store water in their humps. But it is fat, actually! They literally have their “fuel tank” on their back. If necessary camels can survive up to 40 days without any food. The brown bear is both a food lover and a hunger artist. Before winter it puts on a thick layer of fat. Its body weight increases by more than 90 lb (40 kg) – because the brown bear will hardly find any food during the winter. It lives on its fat reserves for several months. It is not until spring that he can tuck in food again.

Find out more:
Camel or Dromedary - What’s the Difference?

Food Lovers

Which animals eat most? The blue whale, of course! Yet, in relation to the size of their bodies, small animals set the records. Like the common shrew that eats once or twice its own body weight per day – preferably earthworms, insects and snails.

Hummingbirds flap their wings extremely fast – about 40–50 times per second. Puh, this must be quite exhausting! Therefore, the animals have to take in large amounts of sugar with the nectar they drink from flowers. They need two to five times of their own body weight every day!

Caterpillars are known for their enormous hunger. Sometimes they can become a real nuisance for gardeners and farmers. No surprise: Every day they eat a multiple of their own body weight.

Fussy Eaters

The koala is a gourmet by heart. Even though there are about 300 different species of eucalyptus, they only eat the leaves of 12 specific variants of eucalyptus. The African egg-eating snake has a special preference: fresh eggs! It does not eat anything else. This is really unique in the world of snakes. It swallows the eggs together with their shell and cracks them not until they are inside its body.

The giant panda spends at least 12 hours a day with feeding on bamboo. It eats 22-66 lb (10-30 kg). Yet, this is not for pure enjoyment. The panda needs a lot of bamboo as it contains very few nutrients. But this does not prevent the panda from being picky. From about 100 bamboo variants it only appreciates 25 species.

Sea otters eat about 20–30% of their own body weight every day – their diet can be 22 lb (10 kg) of sea urchins, mussels and snails.

The red panda is also called red bear-cat. With 13.2 lb (6 kg), it does not weigh much more than a common cat. Yet, a small tin of cat food is not sufficient, it needs about 2.2-4.4 lb (1–2 kg) of bamboo every day.

The animalfunfacts Roundup!

There are animals that eat a lot - such as giraffes, elephants, rhinos, and blue whales. And there are animals that do not eat very much – like camels, bears, crocodiles, and spiders. Some eat more than their own body weight, such as the common shrew, hummingbirds, caterpillars, and bats.