How do we, and other animals know what is food vs. not food?

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I’m imagining that no one showed the first humans (or other animals) what was edible and what wasn’t. So how did we discover that the things that we consider food are indeed food and not end up munching on random things and wondering why it wasn’t satisfying? Was it trial and error or do we have something built in us that helps us recognize things as food?

In: Biology

7 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Instinct developed over trial and error. 
 We have evolved ways for our Brain to help us identify things that are probably food. Like the bright colors of fruit being appealing to us. 

 So, yea, way back when with some ancient ancestor, yea, they were just munching away on random stuff. And then those that more often successfully munched on useful food passed on their genes while the other ones starved to death.

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