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Originally Posted by Joeschmoe  Do you think so?
While 2% or 4% are significant portions of the diet, most of that comes form insects. The common chimpanzee will engage in social hunts occasionally. They only do it when plant food is abundant and only the males engage. It is not an energy efficient way of gathering food for them. It takes far too much time and energy for relatively little gain. Like i said they seem to do it for social reasons (rarely) when there is abundant food energy for them to waste.
However i would imagine that most herbivores would get about 2 - 4 % of it's food from animals (insects).
You'll find plenty of articles that say chimps are omnivores, but I think the labels are somewhat useless. It's best to look at anatomy and actual eating habits. Again animals designed to eat large amounts of animal protien can't get heart disease. Humans and chimps can and do if fed large amounts animal protien. |
What's the source for this info ? I'm not doubting, just curious where it came from..
The question of homo-sapiens dietary status is generally accepted by the scientific community to be omnivorous, there are arguments against that of course, but the consensus is omnivore, opportunistic feeder. I've noticed
most arguments for humans being herbies are presented by other herbies and I have no problem with that except it's a flimsy reason to not eat meat since man has been eating meat as far back as we have found "footprints", so, for a herbivore, we sure do eat a lot of meat.
If you don't want to eat meat, just say ,"I don't want to eat meat because XYZ", but to say "We are herbivores, therefore, we should not eat meat" is historically wrong. You don't need a scientific reason to make a personal decision. The hitch here is that the scientific reason is sought out to convince others of ones "correctness" and make the case that everyone should do the same. I think it's just an integral part of human nature to try and impress ones will on other people, especially if you believe in what you are saying (think crusades) so I don't get all wadded up over it, but, I call 'em like I see 'em.
This is an interesting site that gives a brief overview of the subject. Put up by vegetarians, no less. They simply say this is the wrong argument to use and that ethical, environmental, and health reasons are more valid.
Humans are Omnivores -- The Vegetarian Resource Group