eli5: Why some animals are born with the instinct to eat meat, while others have the instinct to eat plants?
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Are they, though? Aren’t we taught either from our parents, or through trial and error, what is best for our digestive systems?
It’s an innate behavior in animals. Because tthat’s how their digestive system was designed. [https://bio.libretexts.org/Courses/Saint_Mary’s_College_Notre_Dame_IN/Foundations_of_Form_and_Function/06%3A_Nutrients_and_Feeding/6.04%3A_Types_of_Digestive_Systems](https://bio.libretexts.org/Courses/Saint_Mary’s_College_Notre_Dame_IN/Foundations_of_Form_and_Function/06%3A_Nutrients_and_Feeding/6.04%3A_Types_of_Digestive_Systems)
Different animals need different things to survive. They adapted to their food sources. They all kinda have the same ‘eat what I need’-insinct.
Herbivores have molars to grind vegetables, carnivores have sharp teeth to tear flesh, and omnivores have both. The entire digestive tract is different between species to survive on different foods.
Edit: this is all a result of the food ancestors had available. Look at the Galapagos Finches. Their beaks changed to accommodate different food sources.
Are they, though? Aren’t we taught either from our parents, or through trial and error, what is best for our digestive systems?
Different animals need different things to survive. They adapted to their food sources. They all kinda have the same ‘eat what I need’-insinct.
Herbivores have molars to grind vegetables, carnivores have sharp teeth to tear flesh, and omnivores have both. The entire digestive tract is different between species to survive on different foods.
Edit: this is all a result of the food ancestors had available. Look at the Galapagos Finches. Their beaks changed to accommodate different food sources.
I think mammals have the instinct to nurse from their mothers, then are taught how to survive and what to eat from there.
It’s an innate behavior in animals. Because tthat’s how their digestive system was designed. [https://bio.libretexts.org/Courses/Saint_Mary’s_College_Notre_Dame_IN/Foundations_of_Form_and_Function/06%3A_Nutrients_and_Feeding/6.04%3A_Types_of_Digestive_Systems](https://bio.libretexts.org/Courses/Saint_Mary’s_College_Notre_Dame_IN/Foundations_of_Form_and_Function/06%3A_Nutrients_and_Feeding/6.04%3A_Types_of_Digestive_Systems)
They dont. They try everything untill they figure out what works best. Cows do casually eat radts and squirels and other small animals, cats sometimes like to eat vegies. Majority of carnivorous can survive on vegetable diet for some time
Also a lot of herbivores will also snag some easy meat in occasion, like a deer eating a bird kinda thing but they arnt built for it
I think mammals have the instinct to nurse from their mothers, then are taught how to survive and what to eat from there.
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