An intriguing question. In fact, it is more than trivial: given the predation, why are animals edible? One would think that the best defense strategy is to make oneself inedible, e.g., by poisoning one's tissues - or just putting more sinew into muscle, etc. This strategy (poisoning) is widely used in various orders of life, but exremely rarely in higher animals. The likely answer is that the evolutionary swings from herbivory to carnivory and back occurred too often to make it advantageous, and the carnivores do not need to avoid the predation. It is the same answer that explains why higher animals, even commited herbivores, keep highly acidic stomach they do not really need. The hoofed animals we eat have not began as herbivores but omnivores, and there were omnivorous and carnivorous ungulates for millions of years (in fact, the whales are traceable to one of these lines, the mesonychids). In the Paleocene, it was not set in stone: chosing either life style was a safety valve. There were hoofed predators the size of a wolf http://www.paleocene-mammals.de/predators.htm and larger. Actually, the largest mammalian predator that ever existed was hoofed, this one, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrewsarchus The chief reason the ungulates are so appetizingly edible is that plant eating is just a temporary thing with them. Another twist of evolution and hoofed predator will be back, but for now the niches are filled with cats and dogs. It is the perfectly reasonable question to ask (why do we have meat meals ready for untroubled consumption walking around?). I've been asked this question by kids quite a few times; I do not see what the ado is about.
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А из чего он должен был их делать? Из глины?
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вот всё http://www.hippy.ru/faqveg1.htm
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железный аргумент
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http://www.paleocene-mammals.de/predators.htm
and larger. Actually, the largest mammalian predator that ever existed was hoofed, this one, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrewsarchus
The chief reason the ungulates are so appetizingly edible is that plant eating is just a temporary thing with them. Another twist of evolution and hoofed predator will be back, but for now the niches are filled with cats and dogs. It is the perfectly reasonable question to ask (why do we have meat meals ready for untroubled consumption walking around?). I've been asked this question by kids quite a few times; I do not see what the ado is about.
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