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Any animal who's diet is 100% meat or 100% plants is pretty rare.

There are animals who definitely prefer one over the other, and there are animals that are much more suited for one over the other.

Basically you have Hypercarnivores (Typically called Carnivores), which have a diet that is roughly 70% or more meat on average. Basically every species of cat is one of these. Some canine species. Predatory birds. Tons of others. Dolphins are one a lot of people dont really think of.

Then you have Mesocarnivores (Either considered Omnivores or Carnivores depending on the perception of the animal), who's diet is roughly 50% meat. Most rodents, some canines. Foxes.

Then you have Hypocarnivores (Herbivores or Omnivores depending on the animal). Who's diet is 30% or less meat. Deer, Black Bears, lots of primape species, including humans.

Despite what their natural diet, hunting abilities, teeth, etc will show you. All of these animals can eat plants or meat. For example, a deer, if given the chance, and if it's hungry, will eat a rabbit. Generally this means picking at a carcass, since deer aren't really equipped to hunt them. Meanwhile, a Lion (like most cats) are not opposed to eating certain types of grass, even if they're more equipped for hunting prey.

Similar to mammal evolution. Our common proto mammal ancestors were carnivorous.

Maybe being carnivorous can be a "bridge" to other evolutionary strategies.

University of Bristol, 16 December 2022.

Professor Emily Rayfield, senior co-author:

>“Our analyses reveal that ornithischians – the group that includes many plant-eating species like the horned dinosaurs, the armoured ankylosaurs and the duck-billed dinosaurs – started off as omnivores.

>“And another interesting finding is that the earliest sauropodomorphs, ancestors of the veggie long-necked sauropods like Diplodocus, were carnivores. This shows that herbivory was not ancestral for any of these two lineages, countering traditional hypotheses, and that the diets of early dinosaurs were quite diverse.”

Lead author Dr. Antonio Ballell:

>“We investigated [dinosaur diet] by applying a set of computational methods to quantify the shape and function of the teeth of early dinosaurs and compare them to living reptiles that have different diets. This included mathematically modelling their tooth shapes and simulating their mechanical responses to biting forces with engineering software.”

Professor Mike Benton, co-author:

>“With this battery of methods, we were able to numerically quantify how similar early dinosaurs were to modern animals, providing solid evidence for our inferences of diets. Theropod dinosaurs have pointy, curved and blade-like teeth with tiny serrations, which behaved like those of modern monitor lizards. In contrast, the denticulated teeth of ornithischians and sauropodomorphs are more similar to modern omnivores and herbivores, like iguanas.”

Science Advances, 2022. DOI 10.1126/sciadv.abq5201

Well, sure,s auropodomorphs are saurischians

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