Talk:Herbivore

Note the following article, which may provide some insights into this topic.

Designed to Eat Plants, Then Cursed to be Unable by Chris Ashcraft

--Chris 21:49, 18 September 2006 (EDT)


 * Good article Chris. I'll come back to it. --Klang 00:34, 19 September 2006 (EDT)
 * In response to your linked article, if the ability to digest cellulose were more widely spread, wooden buildings and most organic materials (clothing, rope, etc.) could not be used (because they would be eaten by something), and there would be little opportunity for trees to grow. Genesis specifically says that God gave humans fruit and seed-bearing plants to eat, and green plants to the rest of the animals.
 * In response to your linked article, if the ability to digest cellulose were more widely spread, wooden buildings and most organic materials (clothing, rope, etc.) could not be used (because they would be eaten by something), and there would be little opportunity for trees to grow. Genesis specifically says that God gave humans fruit and seed-bearing plants to eat, and green plants to the rest of the animals.

"God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food.” And it was so. Gen 1:29-30"
 * That being so, I strongly doubt that humans ever had the ability to digest cellulose, or that many animals have lost an ability that they once had. I think rather that the amount and the energy content of food is now far less than it was before the flood.  Consider all the large insects in the fossil record that no longer exist and the abundance of animals spread all over the earth.  The earth is now unable to support the quantity and diversity of life that it once supported.  Oelphick 16:58, 19 September 2006 (EDT)


 * Why would God design a world where the intended food source could not be digested? In a forest full of herbaceous plants, we will starve to death while surrounded by sugar unless we dig up worms or something. That makes no sense from an ID standpoint.


 * There is a tremendous amount of energy in cellulose. If humans and animals could digest it, a few leaves alone would be enough sustain even the largest herbivore, but today an average elephant eats about 300lb of plant matter each day because the majority of what they eat passes through undigested. Being able to digest cellulose would mean that much less plant mass would need to be consumed giving trees more of an opportunity to grow rather than less. --Chris 18:50, 19 September 2006 (EDT)