how do herbavores metabolize their fat stores? page 2

[Uncephalized]

Yes, exactly - i tried finding out online but there isn't any obvious information on this topic specifically.

I would assume it's the same or almost the same mechanism as we use. Metabolizing fat is pretty basic to our metabolisms and it's probably basically the same among most terrestrial vertebrates. But I have no science to back that hunch up whatsoever.

[wiltondeportes]

If you're fasting, you're fasting. You will use stored energy either way. It doesn't matter if you're herbavore or carnivore. That's my initial thought on the matter.

[Uncephalized]

If you're fasting, you're fasting. You will use stored energy either way. It doesn't matter if you're herbavore or carnivore. That's my initial thought on the matter.

The main difference is that a domestic cow will rarely, if ever, be in a fasting state throughout its life--digestion of grass is a long, slow process and they eat more or less constantly, so their guts are probably never even close to empty.

Of course, their immediate ancestors (only a few thousand years ago) would have seen occasional or even regular lean times--so they would still retain the mechanism for living off stored fat. But I would bet modern, managed domestic cattle are rarely anything but "fed".