The strictly carnivorous Pallid and Montagu's Harriers are confirmed to be crucial secondary seed dispersers in India, rescuing viable seeds from the digestive tracts of their prey and playing an important role in maintaining the biodiversity of threatened grassland ecosystems.

 It is in the best interest of a tree to ensure that its seeds are dispersed to far off places where they can get good sunlight and nutrition to grow. This is carried out by the help of frugivores, who eat fruits and transport seeds in their gut. A recent study illustrates how irreplaceable elephants are as seed dispersers using computer simulation and three species of trees with large fruits. The study shows that in the absence of elephants no frugivores can disperse seeds as far or as efficiently.