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Err... we haven't got teeth to eat meat, that why we cook it. Teeth that are designed for meat have shearing edges. Ours are designed for grinding fibre so the nutrients can be easily released in our digestive system.
Meat is easily digested so it doesn't need to be ground down.
WE were never alone. There have always been other animals around long while the human species evolved. As you know, humans are part of the primate group of animals and contain a diverse range of animals from gorilla to lemur. The nearest related non-primate animal is the colugo, an animal that looks similar to the flying squirrel.
Meat is easily digested so it doesn't need to be ground down.
WE were never alone. There have always been other animals around long while the human species evolved. As you know, humans are part of the primate group of animals and contain a diverse range of animals from gorilla to lemur. The nearest related non-primate animal is the colugo, an animal that looks similar to the flying squirrel.
I disagree with Wildwood.
Our teeth show a mixture of types that indicates we are omnivorous; we eat both meat and plant food. Our guts clearly show adaptations that support this view, as does the requirement for vitamin B12 in the diet, which comes from animal protein and is virtually absent in plants, indicating that we cannot be natural vegetarians. (By contrast, nor can we subsist on a purely meat diet, indicating we're not carnivores either)
These teeth didn't evolve in humans, however, they evolved in our ancestors. Humans have always had omnivore teeth.
The word design is tricky - we weren't designed to do *anything*. Adaptations that gave a species an advantage become selected (by dint of those with the adaptation surviving to pass on their genes to offspring to a greater degree than those without), so when we talk about being 'designed' we actually should talk about being 'adapted'. Our teeth clearly show that we are designed to eat both meat and plants.
As for the bowel cancer issue, this doesn't really float as an idea about whether we're adapted to eat meat. Bowel cancer rates go up in those who have high consumptions of red meat (twice a day). Historically, humans and their predecessors would certainly not have been eating large amounts of red meat - it is costly to hunt and catch prey in terms of both expenditure of energy and time.
Our modern lifestyles have outstripped the human capacity to evolove considerably, and it's no surprise that there are consequences.
Our teeth show a mixture of types that indicates we are omnivorous; we eat both meat and plant food. Our guts clearly show adaptations that support this view, as does the requirement for vitamin B12 in the diet, which comes from animal protein and is virtually absent in plants, indicating that we cannot be natural vegetarians. (By contrast, nor can we subsist on a purely meat diet, indicating we're not carnivores either)
These teeth didn't evolve in humans, however, they evolved in our ancestors. Humans have always had omnivore teeth.
The word design is tricky - we weren't designed to do *anything*. Adaptations that gave a species an advantage become selected (by dint of those with the adaptation surviving to pass on their genes to offspring to a greater degree than those without), so when we talk about being 'designed' we actually should talk about being 'adapted'. Our teeth clearly show that we are designed to eat both meat and plants.
As for the bowel cancer issue, this doesn't really float as an idea about whether we're adapted to eat meat. Bowel cancer rates go up in those who have high consumptions of red meat (twice a day). Historically, humans and their predecessors would certainly not have been eating large amounts of red meat - it is costly to hunt and catch prey in terms of both expenditure of energy and time.
Our modern lifestyles have outstripped the human capacity to evolove considerably, and it's no surprise that there are consequences.
You seem to be correct Waldo about us being omnivores designed to eat meat also as this extract shows
Humans are omnivores too! Our teeth are designed to eat both meat and plants. Our front teeth help us rip into meat and bite into fruits and vegetables, and our molars help us grind up meat and chew fruits and vegetables.
As to our teeth being formed via our ancestors we are probably getting into the area of intelligent design by a creationist. I cannot believe we originated from apes but they evolved by themselves. Put yourself in the mind of a creator. "Wouldn't it be a good idea to adapt humans so they could eat meat" I rather believe the design was already in place at the very beginning'.
Humans are omnivores too! Our teeth are designed to eat both meat and plants. Our front teeth help us rip into meat and bite into fruits and vegetables, and our molars help us grind up meat and chew fruits and vegetables.
As to our teeth being formed via our ancestors we are probably getting into the area of intelligent design by a creationist. I cannot believe we originated from apes but they evolved by themselves. Put yourself in the mind of a creator. "Wouldn't it be a good idea to adapt humans so they could eat meat" I rather believe the design was already in place at the very beginning'.
Early humans ate meat, yes, but neither humans nor animals just popped onto the scene fully formed, one craving the other to eat.
Humans *are* animals, by the way. Human beings evolved from a common ancestor with the apes, about six million years ago. That hominid ancestor, Orrorin tugenensis, ate some - though probably not much - meat, as evidenced by its teeth.
At some point in the journey from the simplest forms of life to becoming a hominid, the creature that would evolve to become man found it increased it's chances of living long enough to reproduce if it added meat into its diet - initially it was probably in the form of insects or something of that ilk, and gradually, over millions of years, natural selection favoured those that ate meat and plant material.
Imagine a rainbow. Imagine the red end is the very earliest ancestor of Homo sapiens. Imagine the other end, the violet end, is modern day Homo sapiens. Each colour (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) in the rainbow represents an intermediate stage - Homo erectus, Homo Habalis etc.
It's easy to look at a particular colour and say, 'that's colour x', but when you look at it as a whole, you see that there's actually a continual gradual change with each colour incrementally different from its neighbours. It wasn't like one day there wasn't Homo sapiens then the next there was; there was a gradual, incremental change over time, and in the same way that anyone can look at the rainbow and see Indigo is different from Violet, it's nevertheless difficult to say when one colour becomes the other.
Humans *are* animals, by the way. Human beings evolved from a common ancestor with the apes, about six million years ago. That hominid ancestor, Orrorin tugenensis, ate some - though probably not much - meat, as evidenced by its teeth.
At some point in the journey from the simplest forms of life to becoming a hominid, the creature that would evolve to become man found it increased it's chances of living long enough to reproduce if it added meat into its diet - initially it was probably in the form of insects or something of that ilk, and gradually, over millions of years, natural selection favoured those that ate meat and plant material.
Imagine a rainbow. Imagine the red end is the very earliest ancestor of Homo sapiens. Imagine the other end, the violet end, is modern day Homo sapiens. Each colour (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) in the rainbow represents an intermediate stage - Homo erectus, Homo Habalis etc.
It's easy to look at a particular colour and say, 'that's colour x', but when you look at it as a whole, you see that there's actually a continual gradual change with each colour incrementally different from its neighbours. It wasn't like one day there wasn't Homo sapiens then the next there was; there was a gradual, incremental change over time, and in the same way that anyone can look at the rainbow and see Indigo is different from Violet, it's nevertheless difficult to say when one colour becomes the other.
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