Question by e102ewan: What would make you suggest that humans are naturally omnivores?
I asked this before, but this time I will go into more detail. These words below are copy/pasted from WikiAnswers:
facial Muscles
CARNIVORE: Reduced to allow wide mouth gape
HERBIVORE: Well-developed
OMNIVORE: Reduced
HUMAN: Well-developed
Jaw Type
CARNIVORE: Angle not expanded
HERBIVORE: Expanded angle
OMNIVORE: Angle not expanded
HUMAN: Expanded angle
Jaw Joint Location
CARNIVORE: On same plane as molar teeth
HERBIVORE: Above the plane of the molars
OMNIVORE: On same plane as molar teeth
HUMAN: Above the plane of the molars
Jaw Motion
CARNIVORE: Shearing; minimal side-to-side motion
HERBIVORE: No shear; good side-to-side, front-to-back
OMNIVORE: Shearing; minimal side-to-side
HUMAN: No shear; good side-to-side, front-to-back
Major Jaw Muscles
CARNIVORE: Temporalis
HERBIVORE: Masseter and pterygoids
OMNIVORE: Temporalis
HUMAN: Masseter and pterygoids
Mouth Opening vs. Head Size
CARNIVORE: Large
HERBIVORE: Small
OMNIVORE: Large
HUMAN: Small
Teeth: Incisors
CARNIVORE: Short and pointed
HERBIVORE: Broad, flattened and spade shaped
OMNIVORE: Short and pointed
HUMAN: Broad, flattened and spade shaped
Teeth: Canines
CARNIVORE: Long, sharp and curved
HERBIVORE: Dull and short or long (for defense), or none
OMNIVORE: Long, sharp and curved
HUMAN: Short and blunted
Teeth: Molars
CARNIVORE: Sharp, jagged and blade shaped
HERBIVORE: Flattened with cusps vs complex surface
OMNIVORE: Sharp blades and/or flattened
HUMAN: Flattened with nodular cusps
Chewing
CARNIVORE: None; swallows food whole
HERBIVORE: Extensive chewing necessary
OMNIVORE: Swallows food whole and/or simple crushing
HUMAN: Extensive chewing necessary
Saliva
CARNIVORE: No digestive enzymes
HERBIVORE: Carbohydrate digesting enzymes
OMNIVORE: No digestive enzymes
HUMAN: Carbohydrate digesting enzymes
Stomach Type
CARNIVORE: Simple
HERBIVORE: Simple or multiple chambers
OMNIVORE: Simple
HUMAN: Simple
Stomach Acidity
CARNIVORE: Less than or equal to pH 1 with food in stomach
HERBIVORE: pH 4 to 5 with food in stomach
OMNIVORE: Less than or equal to pH 1 with food in stomach
HUMAN: pH 4 to 5 with food in stomach
Stomach Capacity
CARNIVORE: 60% to 70% of total volume of digestive tract
HERBIVORE: Less than 30% of total volume of digestive tract
OMNIVORE: 60% to 70% of total volume of digestive tract
HUMAN: 21% to 27% of total volume of digestive tract
Length of Small Intestine
CARNIVORE: 3 to 6 times body length
HERBIVORE: 10 to more than 12 times body length
OMNIVORE: 4 to 6 times body length
HUMAN: 10 to 11 times body length
Colon
CARNIVORE: Simple, short and smooth
HERBIVORE: Long, complex; may be sacculated
OMNIVORE: Simple, short and smooth
HUMAN: Long, sacculated
Liver
CARNIVORE: Can detoxify vitamin A
HERBIVORE: Cannot detoxify vitamin A
OMNIVORE: Can detoxify vitamin A
HUMAN: Cannot detoxify vitamin A
Kidney
CARNIVORE: Extremely concentrated urine
HERBIVORE: Moderately concentrated urine
OMNIVORE: Extremely concentrated urine
HUMAN: Moderately concentrated urine
Nails
CARNIVORE: Sharp claws
HERBIVORE: Flattened nails or blunt hooves
OMNIVORE: Sharp claws
HUMAN: Flattened nails
The typical vegan diet is (supposably) defficient in B12, iron and vitamin D. However I don’t know if that’s entirely true…
When humans lived in caves or the woods they probably got out more and had plenty of sunlight for making their vitamin D. Iron is actually really easy to get when you eat plants LIKE spinach (and I know that people used to eat a lot of them thousands of years ago). B12 grows in places where it is dirty and there is bacteria (like inside an animal???) and food would have been much dirtier back then and had all the B12 you’d need.
People had these characteristics since before they evolved into being humans, but they did have much bigger canines (like chimpanzees have big canines) but they were just as blunt as the modern man’s canines. They were probably used for opening nuts or breaking something thick before they grind it down (using the side-to-side jaw motion) and their molars.
I imagine people started hunting because when they got clever enough to attach a sharp stone to a piece of wood they could easily throw it fast enough to hit a deer and kill it, but this doesn’t seem very natural to me.
Another characteristic of carnivores and omnivores not shown above is that humans naturally hate the smell of the bacteria in rotting meat, but cats and dogs just love it! And they will eat nearly every part of an animal, but for humans that would be digusting. Those who do eat every part of an animal also usually have a very low life expentancy and maybe that’s because they also don’t eat enough vegetables.
So you probably wonder why we eat meat than, because we are adapted to liking the tastes of protein and fat. When we were cavemen, we would have to eat all the protein and fat we found, which was why we adapted
Exsft: I didn’t understand that part about Looney Toons and I am pretty sure I can’t remember ever writing “specieses” so you must have mistaken me for someone else.
And the word “You” I probably spelled as being “u” at some point, it seems like something I would do. Yes it is the wrong spelling but why not? It’s easier to write and doesn’t harm anyone so what’s wrong?
And anyway, you clearly did not answer or develop on the question
Joanne: actually, natural carnivores and omnivores barely chew their meat at all. They have long sharp and curved canines which they use for catching their prey, however they barely chew the prey once they have it dead. Some of them have simple crushing followed by swallowing the food in lumps.
Best answer:
Answer by Paranormal Kitty
Nothing makes me think that. We can eat meat so I guess technically we are omnivores but research shows it is not the optimum diet. I think eating meat is a carryover from times when humans did not have adequate nutrition but now we eat far too much of it, and the factory farmed meat is so unhealthy – it’s full of fat and crap that’s not found in wild game. Not to mention eating it through a drive through window takes no effort (no exercise) while hunting would take some exercise.
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