Fuck dude. I have worse eating habits than an overgrown lizard.
Wonder what their cousins liked to snack on...
Submitted 2 weeks ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/61a3c9c2-4ea0-4d1c-81bc-0aae3571447b.png
Comments
Zagam@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
Funny thing about crocodilians, they look a bit lizardy, but theyre closer to birds than they are to lizards
Zagam@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Yeah, in think I remember them not being lizards but something close, right?
The other part of my comment is still true though.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
They also taste like chicken, apparently.
Ghostie@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
And apple a day keep the Croctor away.
tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
The crocodile whips her tail
Water sluices from leather scales,
An eye pokes up out from the mire
Sighting the prey that’s her desire.It cannot run, it cannot hide
With the croc nearby its side.
Wariness now is quite futile
It can only wait to she what she’ll do.The time has come; her muscles coil
Springs from below, the water boils.
And so death comes in such a manner,
And with a leap, she eats bananner.Agent641@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Attenborough voice
The struggle is over. The crocodile has locked it’s mighty jaws around the defenceless prey. Silently, she slips her ancient body down beneath the only.water once more, dragging the mango to it’s doom.
bryophile@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Interesting! But how do we know the crocs eat the fruit specifically as mineral or fibre supplement and not just for sustenance or for the fun of death rolling a pumpkin?
And how do the crocs know which fruit to eat? I guess for them to eat anything with the intention of being provided with minerals or fibre they need to know their fruits? And how do the scientists know about this?
I have so many questions.
NottaLottaOcelot@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
There was a human study in the 1920s by Clara Davis where they followed a group of children in self led eating habits. They offered a range of healthy foods each day and let the kids choose what they ate - generally kids fed themselves a healthy diet with appropriate portions as long as the food offered was healthy. They would even eat fish oil voluntarily and maintained good vitamin D and omega 3 levels.
Now the author never had the opportunity to try it with processed foods or junk foods, so this may not hold true when items specifically formulated to keep you eating come into play. However, it’s entirely possible that the crocodile in the image has some instinct that drives it to eat a healthy diet. Or you’re correct, maybe it is playing and using the pumpkin as a toy, but it is unusual that it would consume it then
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 week ago
I’ve specifically tried to get in touch with my body’s feedback over the past few years, and i’m 100% convinced that the ability to sense what nutrients you get from food and then want that food when you need those nutrients, is a fundamental thing to any animal that can actively seek out specific foods.
My recommendations to get in touch with this ability is to limit snacking and try to get as hungry as possible before eating (so you have a chance to calibrate yourself, feel the difference between eating things out of habit vs actually craving them) and to try as many foods as possible even if you think you don’t like them, in as many different ways of preparation as possible.
There are so many things i thought i didn’t like until i tried them in a specific way, and there are many things i thought i liked but i’ve realized it was a very surface-level enjoyment. These days when i follow my cravings i’m filled with a borderline spiritual feeling of well-being, the food really feels like it’s good for me (and that includes desserts/sweets, because i’m very specific about which ones i like and how much of them i eat).
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
And how do the crocs know which fruit to eat?
Instinct i guess? The digestive tract is a chem lab that analyzes the nutrient content, among others. You’ve eaten it once, you get a craving once you require something of it.
bryophile@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
So they go around eating plants they don’t know to see if they like them and get a craving for them later? Doesn’t seem very crocodile-like
Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club 2 weeks ago
With humans it’s the same (cravings), you need potassium & maybe crave a banana milkshake. If you explore your craving further, eg ask yourself if you would like to drink milk or eat a banana, it might get more clear what you need (it also helps exclude carbs bcs usually we don’t need them, but the self-preservation & long winters of the past usually means most humans don’t have much limit on carbs, bcs why not more of them, just to be safer). It’s a trained skill to some extent, especially in the modern era.
We associate nutrients with food tastes we get from our meals (which are usually a mixture of things & might even be wrong/false with ultra-processed foods).
I have no idea how this works in ancient crocks. Is it a learned (try all the foods when growing up?), observed (yo, why Silly Goose the neighbouring crock eating a jack-o’-lantern), or “instinct” (ie only crocks that ate pumpkins survived)?
… especially given that even the current “true crocodiles” predate squash/pumpkins by 40+ million years :D.bryophile@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Yes I guess these cravings are part of the “reptilian brain” in humans as well.
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Just ask them
umbraroze@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
Another fun reptile fact!
Tortoises are mostly herbivorous. However, many species of tortoises will not stop munching on leaves where snails are sitting. They are happy to eat snails for the protein. And also to demonstrate the snails that turtles are significantly faster!
(Also I wish I had one particular video at hand, of Galapagos tortoises eating pumpkins)
StinkyRedMan@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Afaik most herbivorous will eat meat given the opportunity.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
That’s either a really big banana or a really small alligator…
NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
How else do you think their species survived almost as long as sharks?
angrystego@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Wait! Do sharks eat pumpkins?
NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
I think they’re obligate carnivores, at least I don’t know of any (There are a lot of things I don’t know, though.)
starman2112@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Gonna need scientists to whip up some more of those herbivorous crocodyliforms so I can have one as a pet
umbrella@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
don’t they eat like everything?
Aquilae@hexbear.net 2 weeks ago
Is that a giant banana
Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Very small croc.
DontNoodles@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
Relevant poem, a little longer than I could post here, but fun to read:
Bloomcole@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Stop pumpkin shaming the crocodiles!
stoy@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Hehe, the cat we had when I grew up was completely and utterly obsessed with home made apple pie, she knew that she wasn’t supposed to get up on tables, and even fish or meat was something she could resist, but not home made apple pie.
Gullible@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Cats fucking adore butter. They don’t care for sugar or wheat, but they’ll go buck wild for butter. Sounds like you made proper pie!
stoy@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
She also loved olive oil, she would prwfer ir over fish and eggs
Town@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Mt cat’s nickname is “Butter Boy”. His only other vice is roasted chicken.
I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Obligatory cat eating pumpkin with yum yum noises: youtube.com/shorts/fw8feygRqG4
fossilesque@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
My big fat ginger loves cornbread and has once destroyed a cornmeal bag.
Trex202@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Okay, what about your cat?
xylol@leminal.space 2 weeks ago
My brothers cat was a feign for persimmon, the sister cat didn’t care for it at all
idiomaddict@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I think you mean “fiend.”
Bbbbbbbbbbb@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I sweat all day at work, my cat LOVES when I come home as a fresh salt lick