Digestive rate model

The Digestive Rate Model (of foraging) is related to Optimal foraging theory in that the model describes the diet selection that animals should perform in order to maximize the energy (or nutrients) available to them. It differs from the main body of Optimal Foraging Theory in stating that animals can select food in order to make optimal use of their digestive tract (maximize digestion rate) rather than the maximization of the food ingestion rate, which is the base of Optimal Foraging Theory.