> Francois:
> "But why draw a line between vertebrates and invertebrates?"
>
> Simply because the only distinguishing food group between
> carnivores/ omnivores and herbivores is the eating of vertebrate
> meat (omnivores is not really a category, because they don't
> have any distinctive characteristics). So if we want to know
> if humans should be considered carnivores/ omnivores or herbivores,
> that is the food group to look at.
>
> Jean-Claude:
> "Are eggs vertebrate or not."
>
> Of course eggs can become vertebrates. Point here is if a food
> can be easily obtained by as well carnivores/ omnivores as
> herbivores. Eggs can in theory easily be obtained by herbivores,
> so that is why they cannot be excluded as a possibility in their
> diet. Vertebrate meat is the only food group that cannot be
> obtained by herbivores.

Cannot?  What about scavenging?  Who knows what a deer might come across out
there in the grass?  What about the eating of the afterbirth?  It's common
in cows, I know, and probably common in other herbivores.

Why does the spine make such a difference to you?  Is vertebrate flesh so
very biochemically different from invertebrate flesh?  I read your answer
above, but it doesn't make sense to me.  If a cow checks for a spine before
it takes a bite of something, OK; but I doubt that happens very often. ;)

Carol