On Mon, 12 Feb 2001 12:53:07 -0800, Wally Day <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


>I don't follow. Humans are omnivorous - we have teeth
>that allow multiple tasks - our teeth can tear, bite,
>crush, slice, grind - seems an almost endless list. Of
>course our teeth would not be exactly like a
>carnivore's teeth.

I agree, our teeth are multi-purpose and are adapted to a diet of food items
which need less mechanical impact. Probably because of cooking and
swithing to more tender food (as leaves/bark/pith).
However our teeth have grinding capabilities. They didn't loose it, because
we needed it. If I look into the mouth of the gorilla and the dog (of the
picture urls on this thread) our molars look much more like gorillas' and
not like dogs'.

> But our teeth are still more
>similar to the carnivore's than they are to a true
>herbivore.

Our teeth are unlike a sheep or mouse.
But I can't see any similarity to the teeth of any carnivore.

>The chart was designed to illustrate the difference
>between a grain eater and a meat eater. We fall
>somewhere between the gorilla and the cat.
>Similarities to both.

Or between gorilla and dog?
A sheep isn't a grain eater it eats unripe grass and herbs.
I think human theeth don't look like grain eater and not like meat eaters'.

>We grind because we do not have the highly caustic
>stomach acid the dog does.

So, the dog has a hard time to grind because he didn't develop grinding
teeth. I think this is because his diet was different.

Amadeus S.