At 04:27 PM 6/7/03 -0400, Han Tacoma wrote:
My personal opinion (I'm omnivore -- I love my burgers,
veggies, fish and most anything you put in front of me) is
tigers, dogs, cats, and other carnivores (other than hûman)
IIRC have short digestive tracts i.e. a tiger is about 5 ft. so
the meat in goes out quickly before rotting.
Vegetarians have longer (a lot!) digestive tracts.
The reason that obligate carnivores have shorter digestive tracts than
obligate herbivores is that a kilogram of meat contains more energy than a
kilogram of vegetation (especially grass/leaves), and in a more accessible
form. Because most mammals cannot digest cellulose, in order for them to
make use of the nutrition in vegetation, the cell walls have to be broken
down mechanically, either by a gizzard or by regurgitating the vegetable
matter to be chewed again (or both).
When
the veggies stay there for a while they tend to fart,
while there is no evidence based research that the rotting
meat causes cancer, there does seem to be anecdotal
research suggesting such.
Other than the late-night commercials I have heard claiming that, and
offering to sell a product which will clean out your colon?
Has anybody checked who farts more?, their dogs and
cats, or their rabbits and cockatoos?, horses and cows?
FWIW, humans produce about one liter of methane per day.
-- Ronn! :)
God bless America,
Land that I love!
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America!
My home, sweet home.
-- Irving Berlin (1888-1989)
___
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
