Feeding on or eating fruit; organisms that consume fruit as their primary food source.
From Latin fructus (fruit) combined with -vorous, from vorare (to devour or eat). Literally means 'fruit-eating,' following the pattern of carnivorous and herbivorous.
This word distinguishes fruit-eaters from other herbivores—bats, birds, and monkeys are fructivorous, which shapes entire ecosystems because they spread seeds across distances. Conservation biologists use this term to explain why losing certain trees means losing the animals that depend on them.
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