Speed Bump by Dave Coverly for June 10, 2021

Squirrels chew with their mouths open, as I have often observed, when they’re chowing down on the food we put out for the birds. Ditto skunks, which I’ve observed less often. Seems like evolution would have put lips on most critters: What’s the evolutionary advantage from spilling your food as you chew?

Chew? Dogs??

More like: “You’re making the rest of us look bad.”

I need to show this to my brother in law

Dogs evolved to rip off hunks of meat and swallow them. Chewing crunchy bits out of a bowl isn’t in their design specs.

Might be disturbing but he is being oh-so polite!

I have had a couple of dogs that did chew and enjoyed different foods.

Carnivores are not good chewers; their teeth are just not made for it. They are for ripping off bite size chunks and swallowing it. This is part of the reason I tend to break up my pets’ food into bite size pieces (when I make it myself as opposed to buying it in the store) to reduce the choking hazards.

This “reversal of value” puts me in mind of how we on the autistic spectrum feel about “look me in the eye.” From our perspective, it’s a very creepy thing to demand!

The funny thing here is that it depicts dogs actually chewing! My Lab merely stands in front of his food bowl and inhales.

They just look like they are in shock!

Our Dalmatian would lick the bowl clean…moving around the kitchen floor in the process, until ever morsel was gone.

Funny comic today

Way back in the 2nd or 3rd grade, I was eating lunch with a classmate who was driving me to distraction, and so I asked him, “Do you have to chew with your mouth open?” He answered, “My dad does it.” I said, “That doesn’t mean you have to.” It seemed to make an impression on him, at least that one time.