Molars and premolars are essential to hippos’ ability to consume food, and quite a lot of it -- they eat over 50 pounds a day. Hippos are herbivores, they they have been observed scavenging on carcasses during times of drought. Hippos primarily graze on grass, fruit and other vegetation, grabbing it with their lips and moving it to their molars for chewing. They grind the food with the flat surfaces of the molars, mashing it until it can be swallowed.