How does the amount of food a large animal, such as a deer, needs to consume compare to the amount of food a small animal, such as a squirrel, needs to consume?

Question

Peyton Budinger · Accepted Answer

The deer would need to consume more grass than the squirrel.

The question already covers this, but unless we're talking about irradiated super-mutant squirrels, we can see that the deer is significantly larger than the squirrel. All kidding aside, we can also compare the two organisms at the cellular level. Since the deer is a larger organism, it has a greater number of cells. Since each cell needs energy to function, if the organisms under comparison are eating the same kind of food (some foods are higher in calories than others), the more cells an organism has, the more food it needs to eat. I hope this is useful.

Wesley Alvarado · Answer

undefined The amount of food a large animal like a deer needs to consume is generally greater than that of a small animal like a squirrel. This is due to the larger body mass and energy requirements of the deer, which necessitate a higher intake of food to sustain metabolic processes and meet energy demands. Small animals like squirrels have lower energy needs in proportion to their size, requiring less food for maintenance and survival.