They won’t die or anything, but it’s inefficient and will just lead to malnourishment. Animals like the panda pretty much crap on all evolutionary logic and choose to eat bamboo despite their reasonable foregut. As you may know, they need heaps of it because they suck at digesting plants.

Animals that eat plants are called herbivores. Some herbivores, such as caterpillars, eat only one kind of plant, while others, such as elephants, eat the shoots, flowers, fruits, and leaves of a wide variety of plants. Because of this, some herbivores must eat almost continuously to survive. …

Herbivores are animals whose primary food source is plant-based. These animals have evolved digestive systems capable of handling large amounts of plant material. Herbivores can be further classified into frugivores (fruit-eaters), granivores (seed eaters), nectivores (nectar feeders), and folivores (leaf eaters).

You can trick an herbivorous animal into eating meat. However, they don’t possess the proper digestive enzymes or proteins to properly break down meat and absorb it for nutrients, so chances are they’ll end up with some form of GI upset (depending on the animal, some herbivores cannot vomit).

Deer may pursue flesh because they lack minerals like phosphorous, salt, and calcium, especially in the winter months when plant life is scarce. While this finding sheds light on deer behavior, forensic scientists are also heralding the study as useful for cases in which a body has long been decomposing.

Our apex predator guide looks at animals that hunt in the wild, comparing common prey and the hunting success rates of each species.

• Leopard – 38% successful kills.
• Domestic cat – 32% successful kills.
• Lions – 25% successful kills.
• Wolves – 14% successful kills.
• Polar bear – 10% successful kills.
• Tiger – 5% successful kills.