devil wrote:phoenix wrote:
However, the reasons for the differences in alimentary canal lengths is due to the fact that carnivores have evolved to have SHORT canals because they have to eliminate the semi-digested meat faster to avoid the ill-effects of the toxins that would be produced in the longer alimentary canals, if allowed to fester.
You may think that but I couldn't possibly agree. It is shorter because the proteins in meat are more easily assimilated than vegetable proteins which are far less concentrated. Shorter is simply more efficient. If what you say were true, then carnivores would simply be unable to live because the bones they crunch often cause constipation lasting up to a week (ask any large dog owner!); with your speculation, they would accumulate toxins. Au contraire, any toxin in the food is much more likely to be assimilated by herbivores with their kilometres of pipework. That is why Alpine cattle herders always give the summer pastures a once-over for toxic plants before the spring transhumance (this was the subject of a novel by C-F Ramuz, The Reign of the Evil One, where the "evil one" was a plant that sickened the cattle on an alp and poisoned their milk and created murderous rifts within a community that believed it was the work of Satan: a good read if you can get hold of a copy).
Just when I thought you were getting it
You are back to being completely wrong, again devil. I am not interested in fiction on this matter, but scientific fact and comparative physiology.
Comparisons between, alimentary canals, stomach, acid secretions, teeth excretory kidneys etc., place Humans in the plant (especially fruit) eating end of the spectrum.
Here's an extract and the link to help you understand.
Comparative Digestive Physiology
Among the various species throughout nature, the length of their particular alimentary canals also differs greatly in relation to their natural food. The gut of the carnivore is 3-6 times the length of their body. They require a short, smooth, fast-acting gut since their natural flesh diet becomes quite toxic and cannot be retained within the intestine for long without poisonous putrefaction taking place. The gut of the herbivore is sacculated for greater surface area, and is 30 times the length of their body. Its herb and grass diet is coarse and fibrous, requiring longer digestion to break down cellulose. The length of the omnivore's alimentary canal is generally 6 times its body trunk size. The gut of the frugivore (like humans) is also sacculated and is 12 times the length of its body. The length of the adult human alimentary canal is about 30 feet. The human digestive tract is about four times as long as the carnivores. The intestine of the carnivore is short and smooth in order to dissolve food rapidly and pass it quickly out of the system prior to the flesh putrefying. The human digestive tract is corrugated for the specific purpose of retaining food as long as possible until all nutriment has been extracted, which is the worst possible condition for the digestion and processing of flesh foods. Meat moves quickly through the carnivore's digestive tract and is quickly expelled. The human lengthy intestine cannot handle low-fiber foods including meat and dairy very quickly at all. As a consequence, animal foods decrease the motility of the human intestine and putrefaction almost invariably occurs (as evidenced by foul smelling stools and flatulence), resulting in the release of many poisonous by-products as the low-fiber food passes through, ever so slowly. In humans, eventual constipation may develop on a meat-centered diet. Colon cancer is also common, both of which are rare or non-existent on a high-fiber diet centered around raw fruits and vegetables.
http://www.iol.ie/~creature/BiologicalAdaptations.htm
