At 09:08 AM 9/6/99 -0400, you wrote:
>A fellow named Mick in the sci.med.nutrition newsgroup asked:
>
>There's one thing that's intrigued me for years.  Why is
>man the only animal that doesn't instinctively know what
>foods to eat in order to stay healthy?  Any ideas why that
>is?
>
>Anyone got some explanation?
>
>Don.

I don't think that animals have a unique ability to eat healthy food.  Animals
seem to respond to certain cues by instinct to determine "what to do" including
eating.  Animals develop and evolve in certain ecosystems and will naturally
eat certain things based upon their "evolved" criteria.

Animals have been known to drink radiator fluid that will kill them.  Cats
and dogs
have been known to chew on house plants which will poison them.  Horses will
commonly overeat to possible death if left in the oat bin.

People have a tremendous ability to alter their surroundings and
subsequently can
create "new" foods that are certainly less than optimal.

   Wade Reeser  [log in to unmask]