Natural Omnivores?

Question

Are those who cite humans' possession of "cutting teeth" as "evidence" of our species being natural omnivores looking at the same mouth I am? I would love to hear a good argument for humans being natural omnivores, but to bring up the human mouth, which contains FOUR very dull incisors (compared to TWENTY-EIGHT flat teeth) seems counter-productive to their idea.

Any thoughts or insights?

THIS is what the teeth of a natural meat-eater look like.

http://www.tigermm.com/img/teeth.jpg

GK, How long a species has been engaged in any one behavior is not really relelevant to the naturality of that behavior. For instance, humans have been wearing clothes for hundreds of years, usually due to modesty, but that doesn't mean doing so is entirely natural; it serves no evolutionary or survival purpose.

Meg, you're absolutely right in pointing out that tigers are carnivores. However, you'd think that an omnivore (an organism which requires both animal flesh and plants to survive) would have at least a FEW teeth which resembled those of these natural carnivores, rather than none.

Answer 1

I think you may have some terms confused. Our dentition does show we ARE natural ominivores, but we are NOT natural carnivores.

The tiger is a natural carnivore.

So the argument from dentition alone substantiates the fact we are natural OMNIvores . . . but not carnivores.

Answer 2

Actually your teeth get dull over time especially with all of the brushing your teeth and eating a lot of food over the years just like old panther's teeth. You can use those teeth to tear meat but you also need your flat teeth to grind the rest of it up. We are naturally omnivores and we can spend short periods of time just eating meat.Just like tigers can spend a very short time eating grasses and berries as well. We also are the only animal that can actually drive a car and use a computer but everyone is different and we don't all live in the same place. It is just a choice on what you eat and on how you live.

Answer 3

The fact that you showed there are teeth that can be used for meat somehow already proves the omnivore theory don't you think?
If you like to use teeth, then consider the thickness of the enamel. Human teeth have very thin enamels that will not withstand a lifetime of chewing on uncooked and dirt filled plant fibers that true wild herbivores consume. You have to first clean/wash then cook most vegetables before they can be edible.(also remember that many plantw are toxic to humans raw and even when cooked) Meat however, can and is actually consumed raw as is the practice of some native peoples like the Inuits who rarely if ever cook their food (aside from having an almost 100% meat diet). Go beyond you teeth and you have the gall bladder which produce bile. Bile is necessary only in the digestion of animal flesh and humans produce copious amounts of bile. Most hebivores either do not have gall bladdders or have very small ones which produce very little bile (stomach acid is not the only digestive juice required for meat). Our intestines are also designed to digest both meat (short but large intestines) and plants (long but small intestines). Check human stool and you will find that meat is almost totally digested but plants can remain totally or almost totally undigested.
Also, man has been consuming both meat and plants for hundreds if not millions of years. Modern and mostly Westrn 20th and 21st century evolutionary arguments by "zoophilic moralists" simply do not hold much water.

Answer 4

I think that if you are going to try and use an animal's teeth as comparison as to why a human can't be an omnivore, I think you should use an actual OMNIVOROUS animal's teeth for comparison purposes.

Veg, I've eaten raw meat before and never got sick.
I've also never understood how people that look down on the things that make us able to include meat in our diet can forget that those same things are what makes us able to not be included in a meat eaters diet. Just as I am unable to kill a deer without assistance, I am also unable to not be killed by a cougar without assistance. Sure, there are those lucky tool-less bastards that get away, but I know I'm not going out in cougar country without the proper tools to protect myself with(which *gasp* I can use to feed myself with too).

Clothing has no survival purpose? Well, sh*t, I hate wearing clothes, guess I'll go naked from now on since I don't need to be covered to survive, just need them for modesty. Oh, BTW, I live in Alaska right now, how necessary do you think my clothes really aren't to my survival?

Answer 5

This IS a weak argument.
That said, why try to prove how we are naturally meant to eat? Vegetarianism shouldn't be about trying to prove how nature intended us to eat, but about making a thinking decision as civilized beings on what to put into our bodies now that we have a choice about the matter and don't have to eat whatever is available to survive.
That, to me, is being at the top of the food chain!

Answer 6

The human person is quite adaptable re: diet. For instance the Inuits and some aborigines susbsist on almost an exclusive meat diet.

To put it simply: The human digestive system senses this huge quantity of meat and triggers the secretion of more stomach acid to digest the increased quantity of meat.

Quite remarkable when you think of it. The one thing we cannot adapt to digest is cellulose. We are magnificent ominivores and can live on a variety of diets.

Answer 7

You used a tiger's teeth as an example but they are natural-born carnivores. Omnivore teeth are different. Humans would never be able to eat a carnivorous diet, we have barely a tenth of the acid in our stomachs to digest meat. However, I have never found a valid way to use teeth to argue a case for veganism.

Answer 8

You show the teeth of a carnivore to prove humans aren't omnivores? That's a flawed argument.

There is no argument needed beyond the fact that we are animals and we eat both plants and animals......that's nature.

Some folks like to pretend that we aren't made to digest meat and whatnot, but have you ever seen undigested meat come out of anybody's ***? But you will always find corn and bean skins etc.....Why? Because we can't digest them. That's what it means to not be able to digest something.

You should refrain from asking questions like this. It's....unflattering.

Answer 9

we have been omnivorous (documented) for centuries with the same basic dental arrangement,country to country ,age to age, and it works as well for me as I'm sure it did for Socrates. Must be the proper set up for us omnivores.We got taller ,less hairy(some of us) and smarter but the dentes are still the same.

Answer 10

lol. People.

If we were omnivores, we'd still have carnivorous traits, as in:
Able to chase and kill prey with our bare hands, rip their flesh with our teeth, and swallow raw chunks of it whole (and not get sick). We don't have the speed, hands, OR teeth meant for that.

And as I've said before.. until you salivate at the sight of roadkill and excitedly run over to check it out, instead of recoil in disgust, you aren't meant to eat meat.