JK Gatto wrote:
> Good for her [Goodall] for her efforts in hanging out with the chimps.  
> I'm not a chimp...  

Actually, JK, Jane Goodall's research supports your eating at least some
meat, since Goodall is the one who discovered that chimps regularly eat meat
(though it forms a small part of their overall diet, it is nonetheless a
crucial part of their diet that is used in their social behaviors and mating
practices and helps them procreate, as was stated in earlier posts). That's
why I said it's so ironic that Ryan quoted Goodall in reference to the
chimps as a defense of vegetarian/herbivorous eating, since Goodall is the
one who proved that chimps are NOT completely vegetarian/herbivorous. 

While we are not chimps, we are one of the "higher" primates and all of the
higher primates are now recognized by scientists as eating some forms of
animal foods, even if only insects, birds eggs and other small animal foods.
Even gorillas and orangutans have been observed eating these small animal
foods. Unless one starts classing insects (the original primate food) and
other small animal foods like eggs and lizards as plants, it looks like we
must acknowledge that most or all of the higher primates appear to eat at
least some animal foods.

Here is some more supporting information:

------------------

Insect food
From: Looking at Ape Diets--Myths, Realities,
and Rationalizations
http://www.beyondveg.com/billings-t/comp-anat/comp-anat-2a.shtml

Regarding consumption of animal foods by primates, Hamilton and Busse [1978,
p. 761] note:

Many primate species once considered herbivorous are now known to expand the
animal-matter portion of their diet to high levels when it is possible to do
so...

Insect food is the predominant animal matter resource for primates. Insects
are eaten by all extant apes, i.e., chimpanzees (e.g., Lawick-Goodall 1968),
orang-utans (Gladikas-Brindamour1), gorillas (Fossey2), gibbons (Chivers
1972, R.L. Tilson3), and the siamang (Chivers 1972). The amount of insect
matter in most primate diets is small, but may expand to more than 90% of
the diet when insects are abundant and easily captured...

Preference for animal matter seems confirmed.

Note that the footnote numbers in the quote above refer only to Hamilton and
Busse [1978].

Rationalizations about Dietary Deviations among Primates

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Fit Food for Humanity does include notes on "Dietary Deviations Among the
Primates" (pp. 11-12). It is interesting to note that most (but not all) of
the references cited therein are encyclopedia entries--which usually do not
reflect the latest research. The response in Fit Food for Humanity to the
information that anthropoid apes are not strict vegetarians could be
characterized as reliance on outdated information, rationalizations, and
hand-waving.

Let's review some of the claims. ("FFH" is used as an abbreviation for Fit
Food for Humanity in the material below.)

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FFH: Gorillas are total vegetarians.

REPLY/COMMENTS: Both lowland and mountain gorillas consume insects,
deliberately and indirectly, that is, on the vegetation they consume. The
above quote from Hamilton and Busse [1978] cites Fossey (personal
communication) regarding insect consumption by mountain gorillas. Tutin and
Fernandez [1992] report consumption of insects by lowland gorillas in the
Lope Reserve, Gabon: termites (whose remains were contained in 27.4% of
gorilla feces) and weaver ants. Note that both insects mentioned are social
insects; the consumption of social insects is efficient, as their
concentration in nests allows easy harvesting of significant quantities. Of
further interest here is the information that termites are known to contain
significant quantities of vitamin B-12; see Wakayama et al. [1984] for
details. Insectivory by mountain gorillas is discussed further later in this
section.

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FFH: Orangutans consume 2% insects; from p. 11: "the 2% digression may be
seen as incidental and insignificant."

REPLY/COMMENTS: The quote from FFH does not specify whether the 2% is by
weight or feeding time. Due to the difficulties in estimating weights of
foods consumed, the 2% figure is probably by feeding time. Galdikas and
Teleki [1981] report that orangutans at Tanjung Puting Reserve in Indonesia
consumed 4% fauna (insects, eggs, meat) by feeding time. Kortlandt [1984]
reports that (p. 133), "orang-utans eat honey, insects and, occasionally,
bird's eggs, but no vertebrates."

For photos of a wild orangutan eating insects, see Knott [1998], p. 42; and
for a photo of a wild orangutan eating a vertebrate--a rare event--see Knott
[1998], p. 54.

The claim that insect consumption by orangutans is "insignificant" is
clearly an unproven assumption. Insects and other animal foods are
nutrient-dense foods: they supply far more calories and nutrients per gram
of edible portion than the same weight of most of the plant foods commonly
consumed (i.e., fruits other than oily fruits, and leaves).