Herbivores

... might contain some plants that are poisonous, while also containing some that are edible and nutritious. The same goes for anything with leaves! Herbivores usually know what to eat and what not to eat, although grazing animals have been made sick on occasion by eating things that aren't good ...

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Yes, true. Bottleneck effect, associated genetic drift and inbreeding depression are all well theorised to reduce genetic variation, thus harming populations' ability to whithstand environmental changes. Increased riskof extinction results. But back in my years as a conservation biologist I remember...

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... ecology alone gives big enough an issue. You need to consider: 1) Is your system closed or open? If closed -say an island or a fenced property- herbivores can't migrate into or out of the system. They will eat all edible plants and start dying of starvation as food becomes scarce. Eventually ...

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... This regular unchanging yo yo effect would be very bad for any species. There is also of course the fact that without predators the beautiful herbivores we have today would never have evolved. They would all look more like tortoises without shells.

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Herbivores can't exist without predators. They have no way of regulating their own numbers so that they don't consume all the plants. In the scenario that they consume most of the plants and start dying off from starvation, ...

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