Is man a predator or a herbivore? Comparison of predators and herbivores

A person is included in the group of heterotrophic organisms, which are characterized by a mixed type of food, depending on personal food preferences, cultural traditions, religious views.

Predators use the meat of the victim as food. Splitting and absorption of the products of its decomposition is carried out by the digestive system, which has certain differences. The same applies to herbivores: their gastrointestinal tract is characterized by a number of specific features. Quite interesting is the structure of the human digestive system: it is little like the gastrointestinal tract of predators and herbivorous organisms. In this article, we will compare predators and herbivores, as well as explain the features of human digestion.

What animals eat

Organisms related to carnivores, otherwise called predators. They include about 270 species that are included in the suborders of the Psalms and Cats. Some representatives of the animal world use both meat and vegetation for food. They are called omnivores. Order Predators, otherwise referred to as Beasts. There is a group of organisms, for example, hedgehogs, shrews, gray rats, chimpanzees that occasionally hunt other animals, but most of the life they use for food plants or dead organics. The division of animals into carnivores, herbivores and omnivores is relatively arbitrary. The same species, having got into unusual environmental conditions, can change its diet, adapting and trying to survive.

Methods of human nutrition

They are diverse and are conditioned, first of all, by national and cultural traditions and individual characteristics. The anatomical structure of a person in terms of its digestive system confirms the fact that its various departments are capable of mechanically grinding, splitting and digesting products of both plant and animal origin. Hence the following conclusion suggests: the answer to the question of who a person is, a predator or a herbivore , will not be categorical. To understand, we turn to the anatomical and morphological features of the digestive organs of herbivores, carnivores and humans, and compare them.

Digestive system of predators and herbivores

The specific structure of this system begins already in the oral cavity of the predator and concerns the features of its dental apparatus, which, in the overwhelming majority of cases, has a heterodontic type. It includes incisors, canines, premolars and molars. On the dental arches there are diastemes, which cause the lock-like closure of the canine teeth. Unlike herbivores and humans, the saliva of predators does not contain amylase, which means that the vegetable starch in the mouth does not split. The mouth of the animal occupies most of the dimensions of the head. This is especially important during the attack on the victim and its further eating.

Herbivorous animals have the following features of the mouthpiece: a small mouth, muscular lips and tongue, involved in slow chewing food, complex transverse movements of the lower jaw. Teeth are slightly differentiated, and saliva contains amylase and maltase for splitting plant carbohydrates. Herbivorous mammals have a multi-chambered stomach. Its departments are called a scar, a net, a book and abomasum.

Oral apparatus and stomach of mammals

Chewing food of animal or vegetable origin occurs with the help of teeth of the heterodont type. Selection of saliva carries three pairs of glands. Saliva, like that of herbivores, contains amylase. The anatomical structure of a person concerning its digestive organs is characterized by the following features: food is split in the oral cavity under the action of proteolytic enzymes, the food lump, having got into the stomach, begins to be split with pepsin, lipase, gastrin. In contrast to predators that have a high acidity of gastric juice, the pH of the gastric juice of a person is equal to 4-5. The stomach is single-chambered, less voluminous than that of predators and herbivores. Based on the structure of the above sections of the digestive system, to the question of whether a predator or herbivore, it can be argued that in its anatomical and physiological abilities, it has the traits of both herbivores and predators.

The processes in the stomach of carnivores are characterized by the following features: cells lining the gastric cavity secrete a large amount of chloride acid, which prevents rotting processes. Proteolytic enzymes are very active, the digestion of food in the stomach occurs at a pH of less than 3.

Anatomico-physiological features of the small intestine

First of all, they concern its size. Vegetable animals have a small intestine 25 times longer than their body, and the intestines of ruminants reach 50 meters. Predators, eating high-calorie meat food, have a fairly short small intestine (only 5-6 times longer than the body). The total area of villi lining the skinny and iliac part and providing absorption of glucose, amino acids, glycerol and fatty acids in herbivores is 14 m ² , in ruminants 17 m ² , in humans 12 m ² . The volume of a homogeneous food mass in the intestine is called chyme. It is especially large in herbivores. In addition, the chyme for a long time lingers in their caecum.

The small intestine of man

It is characterized by the fact that digestion in it is very active (2-3 liters of intestinal juice are released per day), animal proteins are digested in 4-6 hours, vegetable - 4-5 hours. The greatest activity of food splitting is observed in the duodenum, into which the ducts of the pancreas and liver flow. In the small intestine is a very important physiological process - the absorption of the walls of villi glucose and amino acids into the blood, and glycerin and fatty acids into the lymph.

Digestive glands

For the cleavage of both plant and animal food, a system of enzymes is required that can break down proteins, carbohydrates and lipids. The factory that produces biologically active substances is, first of all, the pancreas. Therefore, a person, a predator or a herbivore, uses pancreatic juice that enters the duodenum through the duct of the pancreas to break down proteins, carbohydrates and fats. The liver is the largest digestive gland. Her cells are hepatocytes, they produce bile. It has detergent properties and emulsifies fats. Predators have a high activity of enzymes that break down proteins, observed in a slightly alkaline medium. Herbivorous organisms contain in pancreatic juice enzymes that break down cellulose, lignin and products of their dissimilation.

Large intestine: features of the structure in different animals

In all mammals, it performs the functions of absorbing water and solutions of electrolytes, the synthesis of B vitamins and the evacuation of stool. Three sections of the large intestine: the ascending, transverse and descending colon of predators are shorter than those of herbivores, especially ruminants. The length of the large intestine is 1-2 meters, which is longer than in predators. In this part of the human intestine, as well as in herbivorous organisms, there is a large number of bacteria that decompose cellulose. Proceeding from the above facts, it is quite controversial to claim that a person - a carnivorous organism and its digestive system is better suited to digesting proteins of animal origin.

Golden mean

Among heterotrophic organisms there is a group of animals whose digestive organs cope with the digestion of both plant and animal foods. They are called omnivores, for example: bear, pig, hedgehog. A person can also continue this list. Moreover, it is a diverse, full-fledged diet that provides us with body health and clarity of mind. Adherents of vegetarianism warn against slagging of the intestines with metabolites of animal origin.

Indeed, the products of protein decay are very toxic. But who forces us to eat meat daily? Who forbids to adhere to fasting days and not eat animal food at this time? How not to recall the saying of the Delphic oracle: "Measure in all". It is equally painful for many people to use only plant foods, especially if a person has problems with digestion of fiber. There are a lot of opinions, and the truth, as often happens, lies somewhere in the middle. And the answer to the question whether a person is a predator or a herbivore, each of us will have his own.