Why isn't there just animals and food- why do some animals have to be food for others? Why weren't we all just designed to feed on things that grow on trees?
Not only does it seem unnecessarily cruel to give feelings to "food", but it also seems pointless that something designed to be eaten would have survivial instincts of their own, be scared and try to run away when they are being hunted. Wouldn't it be much easier (and nicer!) for all creatures if we were just programmed to eat stuff that didn't mind being eaten?
2006-11-12 23:13:25 · 10 answers · asked by - 5 in Environment
Mavrick- What do you mean "grow up"? I am not just being silly, I already am aware of how the world works- my question was WHY the world needs to work that way. It is a philisophical question really.
2006-11-12 23:47:59 · update #1
If things eat a variety of things then if for example a plant dies out they will have a rat etc to eat. It stops overpopulation smalller animals breed more so there is an excess of these animals; It also helps with natural selection removing the anomolies that make animals not as good as they could be. Without the food chain there would be no development as there would be no need to change whatsoever
2006-11-12 23:19:52 · answer #1 · answered by mintycakeyfroggy 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not 100% sure because I've not done much biology, but I was thinking that if we all ate things that didn't mind being eaten, then it might happen that the other animals/predators would kill the species that didn't mind being eaten off too quickly, because they wouldn't have to work to catch and eat them etc, and so those species that didn't mind being eaten would become extinct. However, those that didn't want to be eaten would have a survival instinct and would try to avoid being killed/eaten, and hence would not die out as quickly as the species that didn't mind being eaten. Hence, even if there was a situation in which we only ate things that didn't mind being eaten, I think we might still end up as we are today- with some animals predators and others prey.
2006-11-13 08:34:16 · answer #2 · answered by friendly_220_284 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Life isn't about fairness, selflessness and altruism.
Predatory animals have evolved to eat certain things because they give the most nurishment. They eat other animals because otherwise they would die.
Animals that are hunted do not just stay and get eaten because they do not want to die.
Noone gave anything feelings, so you cant go along and say that it's not fair to eat things with feelings. How would a tomato feel if it knew you were proposing all animals ate it and it bretheren just so a few measly cows would survive.
Get your evolutionary biology up to scratch and then come back to that question. Try "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins. It's the perfect response to your question.
2006-11-13 07:27:56 · answer #3 · answered by J P 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
plants are living things as well. Just because they don't have a brain, eyes, teeth, blood and fur doesn't mean they are any less. There are trees that will alert other trees-by chemical signals-when a predator is feeing on them. This tells the other trees to protect themselves. The other trees protect themselves by manufacturing chemicals within themselves as to make it undesirable by the predators.
John S.- fruit/vegetable plants develope seed laden edible parts specifically for creatures to injest them to which the creatures eventually pass through and release them onto the earth to begin the life cycle again.
2006-11-13 07:23:36 · answer #4 · answered by viewAskew 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think u need to grow up and look around you. the world is not a nice place it is harsh it is unforgiving and it works on a pattern of killed or be killed. eat or be eaten. if there wasn't a food chain the planet would collapse because there would be an over population of every animal. it is life accept it move on and grow up
2006-11-13 07:25:51 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
To bring balance in nature. Dont think as the animal being hunted as something horrible. I choose to beleive that they themselves know that their deaths are a natural part of life & they die with peace.
2006-11-13 07:18:03 · answer #6 · answered by Claude 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your complain only makes sense if there is a loving god. If there were then we would not be in this dog-eat-dog world where animals are viciously ripped apart by other animals.
2006-11-13 07:24:50 · answer #7 · answered by NoGodsNoMasters 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
With a few exceptions fruit was'nt intended to be eaten, its for spreading seeds and when you eat it you prevent that happening. So the trees , if you could ask them, would mind you eating their fruit.
2006-11-13 07:20:42 · answer #8 · answered by John S 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
To help u stay health and mange ur weight
2006-11-13 07:16:03 · answer #9 · answered by Abena 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
....thats a really good point.....
2006-11-13 07:26:19 · answer #10 · answered by Schnurrkatze76 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋