What dietary classification leans heavily on leaves for Western lowland gorillas?
Answer
Folivore
Western lowland gorillas are generally classified as herbivores, but their feeding habits particularly emphasize the consumption of leaves, placing them heavily on the folivore end of the spectrum. This dietary preference means that leaves constitute a major component of their intake within their native Central African forests. While they consume other items like fruit, pith, and occasionally insects, the bulk of their diet comes from vegetative matter, especially foliage, which contrasts with strict frugivores whose diet is dominated by energy-rich fruits or pure herbivores that consume less structurally complex vegetation. The dominance of leaves necessitates adaptations for processing high amounts of fibrous material.
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