Eli5: How are elephants able to consume enough calories when all they eat is leaves and vegetables and those have very few calories?

Question

Eli5: How are elephants able to consume enough calories when all they eat is leaves and vegetables and those have very few calories?

In: 60

Answer 1

Like any herbivores, they eat a *lot*. You can get by with low calorie food sources with high volume. Their digestive systems are built to handle huge volumes of high-fiber low-calorie plant matter.