Subdeacon Joe Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 Interesting; An ape's ribcage widens as it descends making room for a large gut to ferment plant matter. The human ribcage tapers as it descends as our digestive tract is about ½ the size as would be expected for a similar-size primate. An ape has a small head. Humans have huge heads. These are telling pieces of anatomy. Why? The Expensive Tissue Hypothesis tells of an important tradeoff: Our brain weighs 5X what you’d expect for a mammal our size. It uses 20% of our daily energy expenditure, burning calories at 10X the rate of the body as a whole. (...it takes a lot of energy to fire nerve cells and pump ions across cell membranes) But humans don’t burn more calories than is expected of a mammal our size. We have an energy budget that we must balance, and the brain takes a huge chunk of that balance. Thus, we have a conundrum, the brain's huge energy expenditure has to be offset by something else. The gut took the fall. If you add our gut and our brain together, their summed weight IS what you'd predict for a mammal our size. The energy saved by a smaller gut compensates for that required by a larger brain. Humans sacrifice gut size and the ability to process plant material for a big brain that facilitates hunting success via intelligence, language, tool- / weapon-making, and cooperation. TL;DR We aren't the biggest, fastest, or strongest animal, but by sacrificing our large plant-processing gut we could fuel an outsized brain with meat - the tradeoff (gut for brain) that catapulted us to the top of the food chain. Meat made us human. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muggle Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 Over to all the Darwinians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocWard Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 55 minutes ago, Muggle said: Over to all the Darwinians. I truly hope I'm not about to get another thread shut down, and I may be typing this because I'm still on my first cup of coffee. Most evolutionary biologists and others I know who accept the scientific validity of evolutionary theory don't call themselves "Darwinians" for a variety of reasons. It is often used as a pejorative by those who do not accept the science. But, I will gladly take up the mantle for now. In response to @Subdeacon Joe, yes, meat made us human, but even though you can't tell it by looking at modern people, so did running after that meat. The below is a rather dry article looking at the evolutionary basis of human running.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4939291/ There's another article I read about six months ago, maybe longer that I will try to locate that is less scientific that discusses how humans would run as a group to hunt. Based on looking at modern marathoners of all types, the article analogized the top runners as those who would be in the lead to actually get the game. But it went on to point out that well trained females, even when pregnant, relatively post pregnancy, and older runners both male and female, are capable of marathon times that would enable them to not only help with tasks associated with the hunt, but in partaking in the spoils as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 Oh great, I'm reverting back to ape ancestors. At least I have a scientific reason for getting fat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 Meat is delicious. If we weren’t supposed to be eating meat it would not taste good to us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 We are OMNIVORES, we eat meat and plants. It;s interesting that many species of hominids that were vegetarians did not make it. Neanderthals survived for a long time on meat and plants, they seemed to have been pushed out by us CroMagnons and also interbred with us. Interesting stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHOOTIN FOX Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 Ever notice that some people have larger k9 teeth than others. Keep an eye out. Some people do not have k9 teethe that extend below the regular teeth. Could be genetics or evolution. Just food for thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 Well, theories are like, mmmm, elbows. Everybody has has one or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocWard Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 1 minute ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said: Well, theories are like, mmmm, elbows. Everybody has has one or two. Not scientific theories Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 8 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said: Well, theories are like, mmmm, elbows. Everybody has has one or two. Evolutionary theories are based on bones and skulls they found. It's kinda like detectives finding bones and skulls and saying, Hmmm what have we here?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 1 hour ago, SHOOTIN FOX said: Ever notice that some people have larger k9 teeth than others. Keep an eye out. Some people do not have k9 teethe that extend below the regular teeth. Could be genetics or evolution. Just food for thought. Or in the case of extra long canines…. http://lazybobranch.homestead.com/POMES/SilverBulleLove.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 This should cause tremors, seizures, and fits in vegans and vegetarians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 Running away from other meat eaters also helped us develope good legs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 1 hour ago, DocWard said: Not scientific theories The history of science is full of conflicting theories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 1 hour ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said: This should cause tremors, seizures, and fits in vegans and vegetarians. HUMMM! Does this mean that vegetarians will ultimately re-evolve into apes in a few millennia? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 35 minutes ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said: HUMMM! Does this mean that vegetarians will ultimately re-evolve into apes in a few millennia? Some already have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocWard Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 3 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said: The history of science is full of conflicting theories. I fail to see the relevance of your statement. Yes, scientific theories come into conflict. Eventually, the one that is best supported by the evidence-- the facts, the data, the current understanding of things as we know them to be-- wins out. I should be more clear. Evolution itself is a scientific fact, Evolutionary theory, by which I mean the explanation of how evolution brought us to where we are now, is based upon the facts as we know them to be at this point in time, across a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines. There have been so many advances and discoveries since Darwin's time that the theory as it exists is far removed from his work. As further research is done, and discoveries are made, one should presume that the established model or models will be modified to fit the new findings. I should probably stop here, before a create problems and ruffle feathers. Anyone who would like to continue the conversation in private messages though, should feel free to message me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 And weapons. Very primitive but not long on a historical scale, GUNPOWDER, we made gunpowder for the critters we couldn't out run. 7 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said: Some already have. And some will never make it past the IQ barrier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted August 6, 2022 Author Share Posted August 6, 2022 14 hours ago, Muggle said: Over to all the Darwinians. Whatever that is supposed to mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 Posted August 6, 2022 Share Posted August 6, 2022 Meat made tigers tigers, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdgun Quail, SASS #63663 Posted August 6, 2022 Share Posted August 6, 2022 My grandfather told me that some of our ancestors hung from trees, but it wasn't by their tails! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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