Submitted 8 months ago by cabhan@discuss.tchncs.de to [deleted]
As far as I am aware, grazing animals like cows or sheep poop in the same meadows where they eat grass, but presumably don’t have any problems eating the grass and pooping in the same space. But if humans would eat vegetables that they had pooped on, my understanding is that we would get sick.
Why? Am I incorrect that grazing animals poop where they eat? Are their stomachs more resistant to whatever makes it dangerous?
Thank you!
My rabbits eat poop hay but not pee hay. They actually have special poops that they have to eat called cecotropes so I’m guessing their gut microbiome is more beneficial than ours. Also because they are hind gut fermenters, the bacteria necessary for the fermentation are probably different than the ones in our gut.
Yeah, rabbits as a species are not only tolerant to eating their own poop pellets but also gain calory extraction benefits from it. Usually mammals don’t completely break down food they eat, ie there is still energy to be gained from it. Microorganisms have the necessary biochemical pathways to do it but for mammals it’s not efficient.
Basically animal has only a few ways to into crease its energy budget. First it can simply eat more or more rapidly. Second it can find ways to make use of resources that are less contested (think of a giraffe reaching for the top of a tree or a koala being able to digest eucalyptus leaves). Third it can simply be more efficient: that’s the slow metabolism of a sloth, but also a rabbit eating it’s own feces alongside fresh food. It’s basically an evolutionary strategy to extract more energy from the environment.
Well, its kinda like how dogs can be treated with a lot of cancer drugs people can't- its largely a matter of longevity and personhood. Just load 'em up with stuff that'll cause all kinds of crazy side effects in a decade or so, if they're at least six, even in longer lived breeds. (assuming its a bad form of cancer in the first place)
Sheep don't have to worry about the things people have to worry about when they aren't going to have to use the same body for the better part of a century.
So yes, they do get sick, but its not regarded as the same level of devastation because its an animal, you can use harsher treatments, and you're not looking at the same level of magnitude of suffering or life lost.
If we had much shorter lifespans, we'd honestly be some pretty rugged creatures. Our stomachs are only .5 less acidic than some carrion birds. More acidic than most carnivores.
No worries about preserving teeth or joints, eat what you want, its literally Yolo!
Our brains, vision, bipedalism and weird vomiting thing are pretty damn sensitive though.
A lot of animals don't have such a vomit issue. Rats literally can't vomit, iirc.
Reminds me of Harlan Ellison’s short story, “I have no mouth, and I must puke”
Shorter gi tracts, different gut biomes.
kersploosh@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
They can and do get sick. Here’s an example of bovine parasites whose life cycle goes from cow to grass and back again:
https://livestock.extension.wisc.edu/articles/managing-worms-on-summer-pastures/
Dagwood222@lemm.ee 8 months ago
I was taught that this is why herd animals keep moving.
actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Yes, this exactly.
They finish off one field, do their business, then they… moooove on.
(Sorry.)
pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online 8 months ago
Exactly, same goes for carnivores eating raw meat. Well, besides vultures I guess.