From: jespah@carson.u.washington.edu (Kathleen Hunt)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: The old "are humans veggies or carnivores" thing
Date: 14 Oct 92 02:46:53 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Oct14.024653.11030
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

Rec.equestrian just had an uncharacteristic flame war, about animal rights.
The discussion got around to that old argument of "are humans naturally
vegetarians or carnivores" (interestingly omnivore wasn't an option in the
discussion!).  Someone posted the list below.  At first glance it has the
air of a very over-simplified or possibly even inaccurate collection of
factoids.  I get the impression the author mentioned only those traits
that suited the "humans are vegetarians" theory, and may have ignored other
traits.  But I don't know enough about digestion to really draw any
conclusions.  Anyone got any comments?

P.S. I am *not* anti-veggie!  I think vegetarian diets can be superb for
various reasons (nutritional, ethical, ecological, etc.).  But I don't like
sloppy theories about human evolution.  (I also don't see the relevance of
what was "natural" a million years ago to what is the best choice now.)

So here's the article:

*************
For what it is worth, here is a comparison between humans and three classes of
animals:  meat-eaters, leaf/grass-eaters, and fruit eaters.  The theory behind
the comparison is that humans are closer to leaf/grass eaters and fruit eaters
than they are to meat-eaters.  If anyone else has anything to add to this list,
it would be interesting to see.

MEAT-EATER         LEAF/GRASS-EATER    FRUIT-EATER         HUMANS
----------         ----------------    -----------         ------
lion, wolf, dog    elephant, cow,      anthropoid apes     humans
cat, etc.          sheep, llama, etc.

eats flesh, bones  eats leaves, grass, eats fruits, nuts,  different for 
etc.               herbs, plants, etc. etc.                each culture

claws              no claws            no claws            no claws

no pores on skin,  pores on skin,      pores on skin,      pores on skin,
perspires through  does not perspire   does not perspire   does not perspire
tongue             through tongue      through tongue      through tongue      

pointed fangs,     no fangs longer     no fangs longer     no fangs longer 
longer than teeth  than teeth          than teeth          than teeth 

small salivary     well-developed      well-developed      well-developed
glands, not        salivary glands,    salivary glands,    salivary glands,
required for       required for        required for        required for
proper digestion   proper digestion    proper digestion    proper digestion

acid saliva        alkaline saliva     alkaline saliva     alkaline saliva

no enzyme ptyalin  enzyme ptyalin to   enzyme ptyalin to   enzyme ptyalin to
to digest grains   digest grains       digest grains       digest grains

no flat molars     flat molars         flat molars         flat molars

stomach acid 20x   stomach acid 1x     stomach acid 1x     stomach acid 1x
human acidity      human acidity       human acidity       human acidity

intestines 3x      intestines 10x      intestines 12x      intestines 12x
body length        body length         body length         body length

- the source of this information is from the book _What's Wrong With Eating
Meat?_ by Barbara Parham, published by Ananda Marga Publications, 1979.
__




-- 
Halfway round the course, up spoke the noble rider:  
 "I fear we must fall back, for she's going like a tiger."
Up spoke the noble horse:  "Ride on, my noble master,
  For we're halfway round the course, and now we'll see who's faster."
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