Optimal Digestive Strategies in Mammalian Herbivores

Recent applications of chemical reactor theory to animal guts can be extended to include the wide array ofdigestive systems seen in mammalian herbivores. Optimal digestive strategies of foregut fermenters and hindgut fermenters are considered in relation to body size and thus energy and nutrient requirements. Considerable emphasis isplaced on the foregut fermentation systems of the kangaroos and wallabies (family Macropodidae) and the rat-kangaroos (family Potoroidae) because of the interrelationships that have been found among body size, gut morphology, digestive strategies, and foraging strategies within this group of herbivorous marsupials. Optimal digestive strategies and optimal foraging strategies are closely linked, and both should be considered together in any analysis of the interactions between animals and their food resources.