(ELI5) Why do animals that live in the same environment and eat the same diet taste different? (For example sheep and cows)
In: Biology
All animals have a slightly different (or _very_ different, in the case of comparing things like mammals and fish) structure to their muscle tissue, based on the percentage of different types of muscle fibres.
See, muscles aren’t one thing: there’s different types of muscle cells within mammalian tissue, specifically Type I fibres and Type II fibres (which are broken down into subtypes, too).
* Type I fibres are “slow-twitch” fibres, which means they work slower than other types but they can do it for much much LONGER. These are the fibres that are found extensively in things that need to work for a long time and do it very consistently, but don’t necessarily need massive power.
* Type II fibres are “fast-twitch”, which means they give a LOT of power and do it really quickly, but can only hold out for a few seconds to a minute before fatiguing. These are found in high amounts anywhere that needs a lot of power suddenly, but not indefinitely.
The percentage of these muscle fibres between animals and muscles is why different cuts of meat (e.g. sirloin vs oyster steak) taste different and have different textures.
Between animals, what composes these cells also varies! So one species might have a relatively higher amount of iron in their myoglobin within muscle cells, while another species might have lower myoglobin but higher sodium, that kind of thing. Variations in natural sugars and chemicals called glycoproteins will also factor in, lots of things really.
Latest Answers