Phloeophagy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The behavior of feeding on tree bark exemplifies a specialized dietary practice in particular wildlife species
2. A rare feeding strategy that involves the consumption of bark, primarily observed in certain animals adapted to this niche
3. A unique dietary behavior characterized by the consumption of bark by specific animal species adapted to such feeding habits

Etymology: The Greek "phloiós" meant "bark," the outer covering of trees, and "-phagia" comes from "phagein," "to eat," a root that also gives English "-phagous" and "-phagy" in words such as "anthropophagy" and "esophagus." Joining the two produces a term for eating bark, which is exactly what the word describes: the feeding habit of certain animals that depend on the inner bark, or cambium, of trees and shrubs. The compound appears in English in Eric Partridge's 1977 "Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English," which is where its formation is recorded. The word is therefore a modern scientific coinage built from classical parts, not a term that ancient Greek speakers would have recognised as a single word.

Synonyms: bark-eating, phloem feeding, plant feeding, herbivory, vegetation consumption