Do you think humans are more like true carnivores or herbivores?!
Answers: By design physically and psychologically- which do we better compare to? Why?
Our digestive system is happier to work on veg food. In fact, 'Truth about food' show on 'Discovery Channel' discovered that veg food digests in about 23 hours from intake. That is the length of our biological clocks are as well.
The same show discovered that meat and other non-veg food took around 42 hours to digest.
In both the cases, the energy accrued by the body was fairly equal in terms of fat, carbs and calories. However, the time and energy spent in working on non-veg food was almost two times that of a veg food. The show named the veg food, 'Evolutionary diet'. Now, I have no clue what that name is supposed to mean.
In another episode, the same show discovered that having meant and such non-veg food increases the animalistic instincts in martial artists, without showing any differences in the power of the delivery of their kicks and punches and blows.
So, I would conclude that may be we are becoming herbivores while still retaining the omnivore capability. Perhaps to serve as a backup in the worst times.
Humans are like rats and higher primates, we are TRUE omnivores. We are highly adaptable to a wide variety of diets depending on climate, region, personal preference or mental handicap. Come to think of it, Vegans kinda make me believe in God a little bit again...
Neither. Humans are omnivores. Like other higher primates, we eat vegetables and meats.
Added later: This is apparent by our teeth. We have sharp canines and incisors for tearing meats, and flat molars for chewing veggies.
Hope that helps.
We are actually omnivores - we have teeth designed to eat both meat and vegtables/seeds!
OMNIVORES IS THE WORD
we will eat just about anything
its what makes us so successful on an evolutionary scale
small mammals woud be the best comparison
There is no comparison. We are omnivores. Designed to process meat and vegetables fruit nuts etc. People who choose to eat food which is not typically omnivourus, may need to supplement their diet in order to keep healthy.
I think we are a good mix of both making us Ominivores.
If you look at our teeth we have:
Canine teeth, which are used to tear and rip meat apart to eat
And we also have
Molars, these are used to grind up plant subtances.
So biologically speaking we were created to eat both plants and meat.
We are Omnivores, but If I had to pick between the other two, I'd say we are more like carnivores. Why? Not just because of our canine teeth, that's too easy. No, it's because humans are violent by nature, and we are known to kill for various reasons other than just for meat or survival. Humans are great hunters, and we get an adrenaline rush from hunting and killing prey. We have even domesticated our biggest carnivore competitors, (The Wolves), and turned them into our hunting/killing allies (Ex: Sheep Dogs, Hunting Dogs).
Some humans have modified and controlled their behavior by becoming vegetarians or vegans, but if it came down to survival of the fittest in the wilderness, those humans would die off rather quickly. It is the hunter gatherers who would survive because their killing/survival instinct is stronger.
Yes, I'd say we are more like carnivores for sure.
We are more like herbivores. Our digestive system and our teeth do not match with meat eating animals rather we are more like cows, horses and other vegetarian animals and its is a scientifically established fact.
Meat eating animals are well equipped by nature to kill whereas our body is not equipped that way. We need some external tools to kill. Our intestine is long, our kidney and liver are not equipped to handle meat products efficiently, resulting in so many health problems due to overloading.
Humans are on the top of the food chain that is why they are OMNIVORE
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!$E^&^)
We're more like true Omnivores.
That said, my digestive tract is closer to non-obligate carnivore.
Humans suffer from atherosclerosis (clogged arteries), while carnivores don't have such issues eating cholesterol and saturated fat laden meat all the time.
http://www.foodawareness.org/index.php?c...
Both, since we're omnivores... but I think we lean more to the herbivore side.
Look at our closest relatives, the primates. They eat mostly plant matter, but still eat insects. Also, we can only eat meat (safely) if it is cooked. That isn't natural... you don't see lions throwing gazelle onto a fire pit before they dig in. I think humans evolved more as gatherers and scavengers, eating mostly plants (maybe even bugs), and only eating meat rarely when found killed by other animals. We just aren't very good natural hunters. We don't have a lot of speed, fangs, claws, etc. to make the kill. It wasn't until we had tools that we were able to outwit our prey.
Also, plenty of people don't eat meat ever and are healthy (vegetarians). However, people that eat only meat are not very healthy and populations that survive mostly on meat, don't live very long (Inuit).
Well, we are neither, why try to push our species to one or the other if we are omnivore ?
If you really must, we are nearer to herbivore. Humans can survive on vegetarian diets but not on meat-only diets.
When Narrayan says "Humans are on the top of the food chain that is why they are OMNIVORE"..where do chickens fit into this, they are omnivores, Are you also saying thy are also at the top of the food chain ??...your sentence contains no logic, just a wild assumption.
Clearly we are not true carnivores. True carnivores can and do survive on a diet of meat only. Humans cannot, nor are they particularly equipped to hunt and eat meat based only on our physiology. We don't have claws or fangs and we run far too great a risk of illness eating meat raw.
We are physiologically omnivores because we can and do digest foods from both plant and animal sources. We are different from other higher primates, though, because we have the ability to study nutrition and make choices that satisfy our requirements and because we can operate under a system of ethics. Humans can choose to be herbivores because we can and do thrive that way.
Since we are kind of different omnivores i would say on some cases we relate more to herbivores but on other cases we relate to carnivores we are in the middle and just like distant relatives the primates we have evolved. We have opposable thumbs to help us with some things predators can't use and we have some what sharp but barely sharp canines. We have adapted because the cavemen had eaten more vegetation along there many travels looking for food and a lot of the meat was most likely very fast but they ate anything they could and they had functioned on all types of foods but it all matters on opinion. Even animals related to us aren't fully herbivores because some animals actually eat others like certain species of ape do go hunting and sometimes will use tools. But because we only have a few canines but our teeth are still sharp i would say herbivore.
I think you mean Omnivores or herbivores.
Humans are natural herbivores.
Just look at the diets of our closest relatives- chimps and gorillas. Their diet is ninety-five percent plant-based, and the animals they do eat are bugs and ants, not cows, chickens and pigs.
It's pretty crazy that because a whopping FOUR teeth out of THIRTY TWO in the adult human mouth are canines, people see this as "evidence" that humans are natural omnivores.
Natural meateaters don't develop diabetes, or heart disease or become obese from eating meat. Humans do. The only reason humans are attracted to eating meat is because the animals body parts have been processed and packaged attractively. The reality of eating meat- hearing an animal's screams as it is ripped apart and eaten- is repulsive to humans.
Just because we're CAPABLE of digesting meat doesn't mean we should. The fact is that humans are not equipped with instincts telling us what we should and should not eat- the millions of Americans who visit McDonald's every day prove this.
herbivores. if we were carnivores the we would hav canines
Humans are omnivores but if it had to come down to carnivore or herbivore, humans are more like herbivores...
Think about it this way: Humans can survive off of a purely plant based diet, without meat. HOWEVER, humans cannot survive off of a purely meat based diet, without plants. That is because a purely meat based diet is extremely low on carbohydrates and humans cannot survive off of fat and protein alone. True carnivores such as canines and felines can live off of a pure meat diet, without plants. But they cannot live off of plants. That's what makes a carnivore. And humans do not have canine teeth.
These are canine teeth:
http://www.solarnavigator.net/animal_kin...
These are human teeth:
http://www.auxetix.com/images/healthcare...
They look nothing alike; they are not related.
Like Chimps and Bonobos, we're omnivores. Our digestive tract is shorter than a herbivores, and longer than a carnivores. We produce enzymes to digest both starches (amylase) and flesh (elastase), and it's perfectly possible to survive for months without access to one or the other. We are adaptable. What our teeth don't adapt to is a diet of heavy grinding or high sugar, so we sooo aren't herbivore only. Also, there are some ethnic groups that eat very little plant matter and survive just fine, with no cancer or heart disease,(Masai, Eskimo, Aborigine).
We evolved from a Homo Erectus type that was an endurance hunter that mostly ate meat. Veg doesn't supply the omega three oils needed for brain development.
So, a bit closer to carnivore than herbivore.
EJ, what a load of balls.
Even our closest relatives need to eat some meat. Humans actually digest raw meat better than cooked, although I wouldn't fancy it. And if you move into a new territory, you can always eat the animals. Without trial and error you won't know if the plants are poisonous.
depends where the humans are staying.
That is the beauty of being omnivores. In deserts (cold or hot) they are more likely to be a carnivore while in the tropics or where vegetation is plenty based on the economics and resources available they tend to be herbivores or carnivores.
This is evolution and humans cant be easily compared to other creatures due to the various paths of evolution taken in different regions of this planet. Which family of animals drinks the milk of other mammals?
carnivores like every one i no but me eats meat
we can survive as only herbivores but we would die if we were only strict carnivores, so obviously we are more like true herbivores if u were to compare the 2