A question for atheists and evolutionists. What did the first creatures feed on?

Question

I dont presume to denounce evolution on the basis of this one silly question. It is just curious to me that all animal and plant life feeds on other living matter. But the very first creatures to evolve would have had no other matter to feed on, except sun light and rocks. Does evolution teach that they survived solely on sunlight? This is an innocent question. I'm not trying to mock. Just curious.

Answer 1

And that's why they call it the THEORY of evolution.. it hasn't been proven because there are too many holes and it makes no sense.

Answer 2

Nice question. I'm no biologist, so take my answer with a grain of salt. To be honest, my last bio class was 16 years ago, and I've forgotten a lot of details about photosynthesis, ATP, etc.

In my opinion, what makes food nutritious is not the fact that it was once alive. Instead, living things tend to seek out and collect nutrients; this makes them worth eating. For example, cattle are able to digest plants that humans cannot. The consumption of beef is worthwhile, not because cows moo, but because they allow humans to indirectly eat hay.

I would speculate that early organisms had extremely simple nutritional needs, and could subsist on available raw materials. As little dead things began to pile up, they became concentrated nutrient sources for organisms with more complicated dietary needs.

I think there's also some challenge in defining "life". Things like viruses and prions sit at the edge of what it means to be alive. Whatever the first "true" organism was, it was probably surrounded by a number of proto-organisms. These might have been used as food.

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Edit: Hey, these other posters reminded me of some great vocab words! Yes, the Autotrophs answer your question, and they are tasty.

Answer 3

The first "creatures" would have been single-celled or sub-cellular, "feeding" directly on minerals like potassium and carbon and dissolved gasses like hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen, plant-style. Once they got a little experience, they developed ways to absorb other bacteria and things as well.

Answer 4

Eat rock!
Chemotroph!

No, not an insult...
Chemicals and minerals can be food
There still exist classes of bacteria which need no oxygen or sunlight.
That's not to say that's how the very first organisms did it.
(do self-replicating proteins "feed"? Are they "alive"?)

But it throws the range of possibilities wide open.

(If discussing evolution, is "creature" strictly the right word?)

Answer 5

Actually, not all living things feed on other living things. Plants need nitrogen and such, but really, most of them don't need other living things. Carbon, nitrogen, other minerals, carbon dioxide and sunlight.

There is sea life that doesn't require other living matter to survive as well. That's not at all a problem for evolution.

Answer 6

There's no such thing as an evolutionist.

What do bacteria and other single celled organisms feed on today? Organic compounds.

There were organic compounds before there were organisms.

The organic compounds were the precursors to life.

Answer 7

Um...plants use photosynthesis. Which, ironically enough, comes from sunlight. So yeah, the first plants used sunlight, creatures ate the plants, then other creatures came along that ate the creatures that ate plants.

Answer 8

Bacteria that utilize the oxidation of inorganic compounds such as hydrogen sulfide, ammonium or ferrous iron as an energy source are chemoautotrophs

Answer 9

Chemistry, most likely broken down by light, much like Photosynthesis!

Answer 10

"All animals and plant life feed on living manner."

False. Autotrophs are not heterotrophs.

Likely the same things cyanobacteria of today eat, only simpler.

Answer 11

Plants create food using water, carbon dioxide and light energy (autotrophs). Animals eat plants (herbivore heterotrophs) and animals eat other animals (carnivore heterotrophs). Religious morons feed on dogma and waste precious neural tissue.