If meat eaters say we have fangs to eat meat then?!
Answers: why do we have tonsils, appendix, spleen and gall bladder? All unnecessary
I've yet to meet a human being with fangs.
I've seen freaks online but not in person.
Even then, they aren't real and are just for aesthetics.
Even the teeth that at we do have aren't even sharp. What kind of joke is it to suggest that out teeth are suitable for tearing through hide or raw flesh such as those of cats or dogs?
I think we are built for both!
We are omnivores.
.
They are all there for a reason, it is just some are no longer necessary as our diets have changed.
The teeth are called canines, not fangs.
Gorillas have even bigger fangs and they don't eat meat.
well i have no idea what any of that stuff is (lol).
but i dont understand how we have fangs.
all of our teeth are flat, except for the canine teeth, so that is an indication that we were meant to be vegetarians.
if you were meant to eat meat, we would have ALL sharp teeth, like lions, and tigers, and bears (Oh my lol).
While we can live without most of those, most do have a function and we operate better with them -- and even the poor appendix may serve a function, according to a recent study.
Tonsils - aids in immune response
removal decreases immune system function
Spleen - filters out old red blood cells and part of immune system (also creates red blood cells in a fetus)
removal increases chance of certain infections, and increased risk of blood clots
Gall bladder - aids in digestion, particularly fats
removal can cause difficulty digesting fats, alcohol, and spicy foods (heard the jokes about the euphemistic phrase "treatment effects" from that Alli diet drug? yup, that's the effect).
Appendix - multiple theories: vestigial, small part of immune system, or storage for beneficial bacteria that help digestion (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21153898/ ) -- suggested that this function is only apparent in non-developed cultures, where diarrhea can be a common cause of death.
Are you sure this is a comparison you wish to make -- that while you CAN do without meat/certain organs, you may do better if you do have them?
I have nothing against vegans or vegetarians. I do have issues with poor logic though!
Your right. It's similar to my testicles. I have them. I will never use them. Sadly they are just ornaments.
The thing is, we DON'T have fangs!!
Yes, several of our teeth are slightly pointier than the others, but they certainly aren't FANGS.
If you've ever seen the mouth of a tiger or lion or even a housecat, then you'd know that we don't have fangs.
And if someone wants to argue that we do have fangs, look at a Gorilla - big fangs and vegetarian.
Hey flexi-troll...you aren't a Top Contri now are you? You know who she loves? me. Sorry to hear about your sexlife.
Evolution has made some unnecessary, but they still perform functions. Funny thing is, if we began as plant eaters then our teeth must be evolving TOWARD meat eating by default. Didn't think of that did you?
Thumbers---yeah I know simple logic is a stretch for some of you.
but do you notice we don't naturally go and jump on a cow, and starting munching. So basically we aren't naturally omnivores or carnivores, we have flat teeth, fangs aren't even a term that shouldn be used. look at this chart.
Facial Muscles
Carnivore Reduced to allow wide mouth gape
Omnivore Reduced
Herbivore Well developed
Human Well developed
Jaw Motion
CarnivoreShearing; minimal side-to-side motion
Omnivore Shearing; minimal side-to-side motion
Herbivore No shear; good side-to-side, front-to-back
Human No shear; good side-to-side, front-to-back
Teeth (Incisors)
Carnivore Short and pointed
Omnivore Short and pointed
Herbivore Broad, flattened, and spade-shaped
Human Broad, flattened, and spade-shaped
Teeth (Canines)
Carnivore Long, sharp, and curved
Omnivore Long, sharp, and curved
Herbivore Dull and short or long (for defense) or none
Human Short and blunted
Teeth (Molars)
Carnivore Sharp, jagged, and blade-shaped
Omnivore Sharp blades and/or flattened
Herbivore Flattened with cusps vs. complex surface
Human Flattened with nodular cusps
Chewing
Carnivore None; swallows food whole
Omnivore Swallows food whole and/or simple crushing
Herbivore Extensive chewing necessary
Human Extensive chewing necessary
Saliva
CarnivoreNo digestive enzymes
Omnivore No digestive enzymes
Herbivore Carbohydrate-digesting enzymes
Human Carbohydrate-digesting enzymes
Stomach Acidity
Carnivore Less than or equal to pH of 1 with food in stomach
Omnivore Less than or equal to pH of 1 with food in stomach
Herbivore pH of 4 to 5 with food in stomach
Human pH of 4 to 5 with food in stomach
Length of Small Intestine
Carnivore 3 to 6 times body length
Omnivore 4 to 6 times body length
Herbivore 10 to more than 12 times body length
Human 10 to 11 times body length
Nails
Carnivore Sharp claws
Omnivore Sharp claws
Herbivore Flattened nails or blunt hooves
Human Flattened nails
You notice that our characteristics are closer and identical to our fellow herbivore beings. Fangs are for vampires, that suck blood, yes vampires are real. But as you can see we are natural born herbivores not carnivores or omnivores. We basically don't have fangs, but rather "spade" shaped teeth.
The shape of our teeth and jaws have little to do with what kind of diet we evolved to eat. The only thing that really matters is what types of food bring humans the best nutrition and the answer is meat, fish and offal (organ meat). Period.
A human can live, survive and thrive on a diet that is 100% meat and animal fats. If you don't believe me, then you can ask the Inuit/Eskimos. They live almost entirely off of game, fish and sea mammals. They occasionally get plant foods into their systems from berries that grow during the short Arctic summers, but for most of the year they eat meat. Usually raw.
Yet Inuit who live a traditional lifestyle are healthier than their more "modern" relatives. They do not get heart disease, cavities, diabetes, arthritis or a number of diseases of civilization. No one did until we stared agriculture.
On the other hand you will not find a single "primitive" society that has a strictly plant based diet. The human digestive tract can simply not digest most plant based foods without special preparations, like cooking, grinding, fermenting, etc. Societies that adopt such a lifestyle do not live for long because strictly plant based diets are deficient.
Humans are efficient hunters despite being relatively slow, weak and having a lack of big pointy teeth. Seen any mammoths lately?
Humans can bang two rocks together to make a sharp blade to cut through animal flesh. Humans can make pointy sticks and other hunting tools like bows and arrows. They can communicate and plan an attack or ambush.
Humans are also very good at covering great distances at a moderate pace. Thanks to tools like canteens, humans can carry water with them and drink on the run, unlike other animals who must stop at a watering hole. I've read reports of Kalahari bushmen and some other hunter-gatherers being able to relentlessly track and pursue a small antelope for hours until the animal collapses from exhaustion and the hunter can close in for the kill. You don't have to be fast if you can be patient and out-distance your prey.
Humans are carnivores with omnivorous tendencies (or vice versa). It's not nice that a person must eat meat or other animal products to be optimally healthy, but it is a fact of life.
Arguments for vegetarianism/veganism based on facile comparisons of anatomy are poor at best and flat out dishonest at worst. The important thing is what can we digest the best. What foods are optimal for health.
Firstly, even Gorillas eat some meat, termites mainly, just to correct a prior answer,
Second, humans have been slicing up animals will stone tools for a couple of million years, make our teeth more or less irrelevant, and only meant for pulling food apart, and chewing. We have enzymes in our stomachs whose sole purpose is to digest meat, we even have some that specifically only digest raw meat.
Tonsils are a part of your immune system. People missing them are more prone to infections. The spleen is also a part of your immune system, and a blood reservoir too, you'd know if it were taken out. The gall bladder releases bile to digest fats. Only the appendix is truly useless
You might want to study anatomy a bit.
The function of the gallbladder is to store bile and concentrate. Bile is a digestive liquid continually secreted by the liver. The bile emulsifies fats and neutralizes acids in partly digested food. A muscular valve in the common bile duct opens, and the bile flows from the gallbladder into the cystic duct, along the common bile duct, and into the duodenum (part of the small intestine).
The spleen is an organ located in the abdomen of the human body, where it functions in the destruction of old red blood cells and holds a reservoir of blood. It is regarded as one of the centers of activity of the reticuloendothelial system (part of the immune system). Until recently, the purpose of the spleen was not known. It is increasingly recognized that its absence leads to a predisposition to certain infections
Like other organs of the lymphatic system, the tonsils act as part of the immune system to help protect against infection. In particular, they are believed to be involved in helping fight off pharyngeal and upper respiratory tract infections.
We are built to be both carnivore and herbivore. If we were meant to be one or the other we would have either all sharp teeth or all flat grinder teeth.
Everything in our body was put there for a reason. There is no such thing as a useless organ.