Depends on what one means by “omnivorous”. A better question would be “are humans adapted for meat consumption?
An animal who is physiologically adapted for, and consumes, both plant and non-plant based foods is defined as omnivorous. However, an omnivorous animal is not, by definition, a meat eater. Meat eating omnivores and non-meat eating omnivores have similar biological adaptations and gut bacteria to help them process foods that are not of plant origin. Labeling humans as omnivorous does not say anything about whether we are physiologically adapted to dine on steaks. It merely points out that we carry physiological adaptations for processing animal based foods. Eggs and invertebrates are all animal based foods. They are not, however, “meat” as it is commonly defined (i.e. the flesh of fish, birds, or mammals). Unlike the labels “carnivorous” and “herbivorous”, the omnivorous label covers a wide range of animals which may be primarily vegetarian or primarily carnivorous. For instance, Bonobos, who are primarily frugivorous and whose diets consist of 2% to 3% meat and 97% to 98% plant based
Related Questions
- The production and consumption of meat seems essential to the subsistence of many humans. Wanting to abolish meat is to ignore their interests!?
- Humans need meat to be healthy. Why else would our digestive systems be adapted to processing animal proteins since birth?
- What are the health effects on humans resulting from consumption of meat or milk from cows given rBST?
