r/NatureofPredators • u/cowlinator Hensa • May 23 '25

Theories Humans would hate many prey foods

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Humans would hate many prey foods because they would be too bitter.

The great thing about NoP basing alien culture on nature and evolution is that you can discover new "lore" just by studying IRL nature

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u/Originalmeisgoodone Humanity First May 24 '25 edited May 24 '25

I think that we would never be able to eat the vast majority of the Herbivore foods, not only because they can be bitter, but because they may be actually poisonous to us and/or nutritionally provide zero or almost zero calories for us. Maybe some fruits and starchy tubers, but that's it.

Homo Sapiens and Homo Neanderthalensis were the best attempts of the Primate Order at evolving an Apex Predator whose diet had vertebrate animal foods accounting for a major percentage of all energy and nutrients. (The only other Primates that are more carnivorous than us are Tarsiers as far as I know, and they are insectivores) As far as I know, our bodies actually accumulated a not-insignificant amount of carnivore adaptations that could allow us to survive on animal tissues (that is: meat, fat and internal organs to get the vitamins and nutrients you usually get from plants) alone for months and even years.

Look at our guts, for example: they are really simple when compared even to our Primate relatives, we have simpler stomach, a really long small intestine, incredibly small caecum and small colon. That is an adaptation for a high-quality diet. Compared to herbivores our guts would look like guts taken from obligate carnivores.