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Snowshoe hares found to routinely feast on their own dead

nationalpost.com

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Re: Snowshoe hares found to routinely feast on their own dead

#11

Post by klyrs »

Reminds me of one of my favorite urban animal experiences. There was a squirrel atop a nearby wall, and I had a little bit of trouble resolving its outline. It was holding onto the rear half of another squirrel, so the body outline was all confused. Processing further, I see that my little friend had a very bloody face. After we make momentary eye contact, it nonchalantly goes back to eating its lunch.

Squirrels are so cute! Who doesn't love eating cute animals? Even cute animals agree!

Re: Snowshoe hares found to routinely feast on their own dead

#12

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

joe_the_user wrote: post #5

On the one hand, this doesn't mean that it would be beneficial for a herbivore to eat meat all the time - clearly, they evolved a mostly herbivorous diet that meat provides a protean supplement to. On the other hand, it does show that a voluntarily purely vegetarian diet is an artificial human creation. Yet, humans impose all sorts of artificial strictures on themselves and live to tell the tale.

> On the other hand, it does show that a voluntarily purely vegetarian diet is an artificial human creation.

That's an odd comparison. For the hare, if the choice is "starve in the middle of winter" or "eat meat", it's not surprising they eat meat. I think to say that a "voluntarily purely vegetarian diet is a purely human creation" is true not because of the vegetarian part, but because of the "voluntary" part. Most humans have the luxury of being able to choose a large part of their diets, while many wild animals are usually in a constant state of semi-starvation.

Re: Snowshoe hares found to routinely feast on their own dead

#15

Post by burfog »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #4

My understanding is that damn near anything (at least among mammals) will eat meat if they can get it in bite-sized bits. Ruminants may not have the teeth to tear chunks off a carcass, but they'll crunch up baby birds given the opportunity. Someone else has already done all the hard work of converting plant matter into the stuff that meat is made of, so it's high-density protein with very little metabolic cost. Even…

I find it astonishing that the disease risk doesn't lead to a strong aversion to having contact with other animals for any purpose other than reproduction. This is especially true for cannibalism.

In the wild, antibiotics are not provided. Worms can get in the heart, lungs, and brain. Even external parasites are risky. Disease means death.

The situation is slightly more understandable with some of the dedicated meat eaters. Vultures for example, have unusually strong stomach acid to deal with the infectious agents. Snowshoe hares and ruminants don't have that.

Re: Snowshoe hares found to routinely feast on their own dead

#16

Post by dtech »

burfog wrote: post #15
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #4

My understanding is that damn near anything (at least among mammals) will eat meat if they can get it in bite-sized bits. Ruminants may not have the teeth to tear chunks off a carcass, but they'll crunch up baby birds given the opportunity. Someone else has already done all the hard work of converting plant matter into the stuff that meat is made of, so it's high-density protein with very little metabolic cost. Even…

I find it astonishing that the disease risk doesn't lead to a strong aversion to having contact with other animals for any purpose other than reproduction. This is especially true for cannibalism. In the wild, antibiotics are not provided. Worms can get in the heart, lungs, and brain. Even external parasites are risky. Disease means death. The situation is slightly more understandable with some of the dedicated meat…

Clearly the evolutionary (survival and procreation) benefit of getting the easy protein is greater than the risk of acquiring a disease.

Your point is probably valid for cannibalism, which is why it's rare, and even rarer outside of young. The latter not yet having had an opportunity to acquire disease.

Re: Snowshoe hares found to routinely feast on their own dead

#18

Post by devereaux »

devereaux wrote: post #6

If it's alive kill it! If it's dead, cook it! If it's cooked, eat it! (unless you are a rabbit: several steps become optional)

Downvote if you want, but I find that what my grandparents taught me is in a funny way still appropriate here :)
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