A person is a member of a group of heterotrophic organisms that are characterized by a mixed type of nutrition, depending on personal food preferences, cultural traditions, and religious beliefs.
Predators use prey meat for food. The breakdown and absorption of its decay products is carried out by the digestive system, which has certain differences. The same applies to herbivores: their gastrointestinal tract is characterized by many specific features. The structure of the human digestive system seems quite interesting: it is not very similar to the gastrointestinal tract of predators and herbivorous organisms. In this article we will compare predators and herbivores, and also explain the features of human digestion.
What animals eat
Organisms related to carnivores are also called predators. These include about 270 species that are part of the suborders Psoobraznyh and Feline. Some representatives of the animal world use both meat and vegetation for food. They are called omnivores. Order Predators, otherwise called Beasts. There is a group of organisms, for example, hedgehogs, shrews, gray rats, chimpanzees that occasionally hunt other animals, but use plants or dead organics for most of their lives. The division of animals into carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores is rather arbitrary. One and the same species, having fallen into unusual environmental conditions, can change its diet, adapting and trying to survive.
Methods of human nutrition
They are diverse and due, first of all, to national-cultural traditions and individual characteristics. The anatomical structure of man in terms of his digestive system is confirmed by the fact that its various departments are able to mechanically grind, break down and digest products of both plant and animal origin. The following conclusion suggests itself: the answer to the question of who such a person is, a predator or herbivore, will not be categorical. To understand, we turn to the anatomical and morphological features of the digestive organs of herbivores, carnivores and humans, and compare them.
The digestive system of predators and herbivores
The specific structure of this system begins already in the oral cavity of the predator and concerns the features of its dental apparatus, which, in the vast majority of cases, has a heterodont type. It includes incisors, fangs, premolars and molars. On the dental arches there are diastems that cause a lock-like closure of the fangs. Unlike herbivores and humans, the saliva of predators does not contain amylase, which means that plant starch does not break down in the mouth. The mouth of the animal occupies most of the head. This is especially important during the attack on the victim and its further eating.
Herbivores have the following features of the oral apparatus: a small mouth, muscular lips and tongue involved in slow chewing of food, complex transverse movements of the lower jaw. Teeth are poorly differentiated, and saliva contains amylase and maltase to break down plant carbohydrates. Herbivorous mammals have a multi-chambered stomach. Its departments are called scar, mesh, book and abomasum.
Mouth and stomach of mammals
Chewing food of animal or vegetable origin occurs with the help of heterodontic teeth. Isolation of saliva carries three pairs of glands. Saliva, like herbivores, contains amylase. The anatomical structure of a person regarding his digestive organs is characterized by the following features: food is split in the oral cavity under the action of proteolytic enzymes, a food lump, once in the stomach, begins to break down with pepsin, lipase, gastrin. Unlike predators with high acidity of gastric juice, the pH of human gastric juice is 4-5 in the norm. The stomach is single chamber, less voluminous than that of predators and herbivores. Based on the structure of the above-mentioned sections of the digestive system, when asked whether a person is a predator or a herbivore, it can be argued that in its anatomical and physiological abilities it has the features of both herbivores and predators.
The processes in the carnivore’s stomach are characterized by the following features: the cells lining the gastric cavity secrete a large amount of perchloric acid, which inhibits the processes of decay. Proteolytic enzymes are very active, the breakdown of food in the stomach occurs when the pH of its juice is less than 3.
Anatomical and physiological features of the small intestine
They concern, first of all, its values. Herbivores have a small intestine 25 times longer than their body, and ruminant intestines reach 50 meters. Predators, eating high-calorie meat food, have a fairly short small intestine (only 5-6 times longer than the body). The total area of the villi lining the lean and iliac portions and ensuring the absorption of glucose, amino acids, glycerin and fatty acids in herbivores is 14 m 2 , in ruminants 17 m 2 , in humans 12 m 2 . The volume of a homogeneous food mass located in the intestine is called chyme. It is especially great among herbivores. In addition, chyme lingers in their cecum for a long time.
Human small intestine
It is characterized by the fact that digestion in it is very active (2-3 liters of intestinal juice are released per day), animal proteins are digested in 4-6 hours, vegetable proteins - 4-5 hours. The greatest activity of food splitting is observed in the duodenum, into which the ducts of the pancreas and liver flow. A very important physiological process takes place in the small intestine - the absorption by the walls of the villi of glucose and amino acids into the blood, and glycerol and fatty acids into the lymph.
Digestive glands
For the breakdown of both plant and animal food, a system of enzymes capable of breaking down proteins, carbohydrates and lipids is required. The factory producing biologically active substances is, first of all, the pancreas. Therefore, a person, predator or herbivore uses pancreatic juice, which enters the duodenum through the pancreatic duct to break down proteins, carbohydrates and fats. The liver is the largest digestive gland. Her cells - hepatocytes, produce bile. It has detergent properties and emulsifies fats. In predators, high activity of protein-cleaving enzymes is observed in a slightly alkaline environment. Herbivorous organisms contain enzymes in pancreatic juice that break down cellulose, lignin and their products of dissimilation.
Large intestine: structural features in various animals
In all mammals, it performs the functions of absorbing water and electrolyte solutions, synthesizing B vitamins and evacuating feces. Three sections of the large intestine: the ascending, transverse and descending colon of predators are shorter than that of herbivores, especially ruminants. The length of the human large intestine is 1-2 meters, which is longer than that of predators. This part of the human intestine, like herbivorous organisms, contains a large number of bacteria that decompose fiber. Based on the above facts, it is arguable that a person is a carnivorous organism and its digestive system is better suited to digest animal proteins.
Golden mean
Among heterotrophic organisms there is a group of animals whose digestive organs cope with the digestion of both plant and animal food. They are called omnivores, for example: bear, pig, hedgehog. A person can also continue this list. Moreover, it is a diverse, full-fledged diet that provides us with body health and clarity of mind. Adherents of vegetarianism warn against intestinal slagging by metabolites of animal origin.
Indeed, protein breakdown products are very toxic. But who makes us eat meat daily? Who forbids to adhere to fasting days and not to eat animal food at this time? How not to recall the saying of the Delphic oracle: "Measure in everything." It is no less painful for many people to consume only plant foods, especially if a person has problems with the digestion of fiber. There are a lot of opinions, and the truth, as often happens, lies somewhere in the middle. And the answer to the question of whether a person is a predator or a herbivore, each of us will have his own.