Due to the moderate diversity of herbivores, most of the basic guidelines given here include exceptions.
Let's start with this one: all herbivores consume low-quality plant stuff by definition (grass, leaves, steps). Due to this, they all consume a lot of food each day and consume it often (in contrast to carnivores, who typically consume a lot of food all at once and then go for days without eating). The length of their digestive systems, which may also include extra organs (such as an expanded cecum or ruminant stomach) for the digestion of cellulose, is another distinguishing feature. Their tummies are extremely alkaline (except for rabbits and beavers). Although they may occasionally (and I mean very infrequently) consume fresh carrion or other small animals, any amount or frequency above that can result in both acute and chronic disease. They have no tolerance for certain substances, such as cholesterol. They are physically and mentally prepared to avoid predators (i.e., they are prey animals) by avoiding, escaping, or just avoiding coming into contact with the predator in question. They seldom run with a lot of stamina because greater speeds generally aid They may have natural "tools" or "weapons" like antlers or horns that are commonly seen on their heads; they are mostly employed for defense, and the only times they are used offensively are during intraspecies battles over mates. Except for species in the Glires clade, which includes rabbits and rodents, which are plantigrades, they often have hooves (unguligrades) (such as humans and bears). Contrast that to the typical digitigrade posture of carnivores, when just their digits are in contact with the ground (i.e. they walk on their tiptoes). Since an altricial baby (like those of carnivores and humans) is readily captured by predators, they typically only produce one child at a time. With the exception of rabbits, they are also precocial, meaning they are born with enough development to walk from birth and to run shortly thereafter. Precocial young must be fully formed before birth, and there is only enough room and support for one precocial young to be delivered. They have a keen hearing sense, a mediocre sense of smell, and an extremely broad field of vision that almost usually exceeds 250 degrees and is on the verge of 300 degrees or more. Once more, this is done in order to be able to avoid predators, who have exceptional night vision in most circumstances, a very good sense of smell, moderate hearing, and a restricted field of vision (180°–200°). They are all red-green colorblind, therefore none of them can see colors as well as a human.
