@rollsroyce: actually it takes a lot of smarts (or adaptation) for animals to consume plants. Plants have evolved thorns, spikes, silica crystals, and poisons (to name just a few) to prevent being eaten. Consider the tapir, a South American pig that just might be the meanest critter on earth, and for good reason: all of the plants it eats are poisonous. Each day it consumes a not-quite-fatal amount of each poisonous plant, and then goes down to the river to chow down on kaolin clay, to soothe its constantly rumbling stomach. In this case, eating the other animals might be easier!.Music-history note: it was said in the ‘70s that the breakup of the band Yes after their “Topographic Oceans” album was in part driven by the conflict between carnivorous keyboard whiz Rick Wakeman and the rest of the band, who were veggies. So Phil’s got a legitimate concern…
@rollsroyce: actually it takes a lot of smarts (or adaptation) for animals to consume plants. Plants have evolved thorns, spikes, silica crystals, and poisons (to name just a few) to prevent being eaten. Consider the tapir, a South American pig that just might be the meanest critter on earth, and for good reason: all of the plants it eats are poisonous. Each day it consumes a not-quite-fatal amount of each poisonous plant, and then goes down to the river to chow down on kaolin clay, to soothe its constantly rumbling stomach. In this case, eating the other animals might be easier!.Music-history note: it was said in the ‘70s that the breakup of the band Yes after their “Topographic Oceans” album was in part driven by the conflict between carnivorous keyboard whiz Rick Wakeman and the rest of the band, who were veggies. So Phil’s got a legitimate concern…