men and wolves (were Re: Lance Armstrong & physical abilities

[Guest guest]

--- In , Idol <Idol@c...>

wrote:

> -

>

> >Thanks . I thought this subject had been dropped somehow.

>

> No, I just got sick from mold and fell way behind on email.

>

> >Can I

> >go on asking? Do you think the stomach of other primates (monkeys)

> >are also similar to a wolf's? Or is this similarity peculiar to

> >humans? And do you know how it came to be? Was it natural or

acquired?

> >Give yourself plenty of time to respond.

>

> Some primates eat meat, others are herbivores. I think we're the

most

> carnivorous of primates, but I'm not positive of that. As to how

that came

> to be -- evolution, which is to say both natural and acquired. Our

distant

> ancestors, based on the residual webbing between our toes and

fingers, were

> probably coastal and caught and ate lots of fish. Our more recent

> ancestors seem to have thrived eating all sorts of mammalian

megafauna, the

> vast majority of which we apparently helped drive to extinction.

>

>

>

>

> -

Hi :

What is the meaning of all of this? That we are bound to have a meat-

based diet? Probably yes, though I personally find a more varied diet

more appealing, economical, social and colourful and less monotonous.

But of course more liable to mistakes, no?

Yet I find difficulty in comparing men to wolves. Wolves are

*natural* hunters or predators, while men are *opportunistic*. In

other words, I have difficulty in considering man to strictly be a

carnivore (meat-eater). I would even go as far as to say that modern

man could live on very little meat or even no meat at all, with the

proviso that he might get his protein from fish, eggs or both. I

don't expect to find a lot of people sharing this view, though.

Cheers,

JC