What happens when an animal species becomes overpopulated?
Sometimes, when there aren’t as many carnivores in an ecosystem, certain species of herbivores will become overpopulated. When this happens, the ecosystem becomes unbalanced, and herbivores can starve because too many of them are competing for the same food source. Carnivores are important in keeping herbivores from becoming too plentiful, which can also destroy the landscape and vegetation in an ecosystem. For example, populations of animals like mice and deer would grow too large and sick if carnivores did not keep their numbers down. Also, when an animal population becomes too crowded, they can quickly spread disease to each other and to other animals as well.
