“3/02/2010, 2:06pm EST”
(via theuntalentedmrripley)
Hey, humans: You don’t have fangs. We ran a post back in October about anatomy-focused arguments that seek to tie dietary morality to biological ancestry. E.g. “We have ‘canine’ teeth and therefore are meant to eat meat.” Not only is this fallacious, it gets the anatomy all wrong. Here’s the summary from that post:
- Meat-eaters: have claws
Herbivores: no claws
Humans: no claws - Meat-eaters: have no skin pores and perspire through the tongue
Herbivores: perspire through skin pores
Humans: perspire through skin pores - Meat-eaters: have sharp front teeth for tearing, with no flat molar teeth for grinding
Herbivores: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding
Humans: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding (and we mean actually sharp teeth, not so-called human “canine” teeth) - Meat-eaters: have intestinal tract that is only 3 times their body length so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly
Herbivores: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.
Humans: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length. - Meat-eaters: have strong hydrochloric acid in stomach to digest meat
Herbivores: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater
Humans: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater - Meat-eaters: salivary glands in mouth not needed to pre-digest grains and fruits.
Herbivores: well-developed salivary glands which are necessary to pre-digest grains and fruits
Humans: well-developed salivary glands, which are necessary to pre-digest, grains and fruits - Meat-eaters: have acid saliva with no enzyme ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Herbivores: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Humans: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Never leave home without it.
