#canines tho

[acti-veg]

how do you respond to the canine teeth argument?

I’ve responded to these sorts of appeal to nature arguments here.

[acti-veg]

Hi I was on YouTube watching high carb Hannah and found a comment " We are not physiologically designed to consume animals" and someone responded with " Our earliest form ate raw meat we evolve with canines for the express purpose the shape of our can nines evolved as we began to consume more vegetation as well as cooked meat we are able to consume animals we are omnivores for that reason" as a vegan my natural instincts were to assume this was wrong based on best speech. So what's the truth?

I’m not keen on that branch of vegan rhetoric which claims we are herbivores, and I think that section of Yourofsky’s “best speech” is deeply flawed and does misrepresent things quite a bit. Whether we are well adapted to it or not, as a species we are opportunistic omnivores because our diets are primarily composed of both plants and animals, that much cannot be denied. The canines argument is totally false though, many herbivorous animals have canines, they are needed to consume hard fruit and nuts. 

Ultimately, all of this is completely irrelevant when it comes to ethics; the fact of the matter is that we can thrive on a fully plant based diet irrespective of what our bodies “evolved” to do. We don’t need to be able to prove our diet is “natural,” since what is natural has no relevance whatsoever to what is ethical. Besides, people really can’t appeal to nature when they’re buying industrially produced meat pre-packed from the supermarket; the vast majority of our diets are about the furthest from being “natural” as they could be. 

[acti-veg]

Regarding the 'vegans take note of the structure of your teeth' or whatever that dumb post said... before I was vegan I had to go to the dentist because I chipped my left canine while eating a McDonald's chicken nugget lmao.. . #teeththo

Don’t feel too bad, I’m sure that happens to Lions sometimes too...

[fakinbaconvegancomics]

A great smack down of the canines argument by Debbie Schultz-Peterson

[vero-in-technicolor]

I saw the question you answered about how humans are actually closer to herbivores than carnivores.... You cited our intestines and the way we sweat but did you happen to notice your own fuckin teeth, our teeth can't be disputed they're made for meat

Your Canine Teeth Don’t Make You A Meat-Eater: 

Not only do most mammals, including herbivores, have canine teeth; but the largest canine teeth of any land mammal belong to a true herbivore: the hippopotamus. Hippos are extremely territorial and aggressive; their sword-like canines, which can reach a terrifying sixteen inches in length, are used for combat and play no role in feeding. The hippo’s diet consists of grass, on which it grazes at dusk. 

Gorillas are almost exclusively herbivorous. Mountain gorillas prefer a diet of foliage — leaves, stems, pith, and shoots — and a small amount of fruit. Lowland gorillas also eat leaves and pith, but they eat more fruits, and, occasionally, tiny ants or termites. Gorillas’ giant canines have nothing to do with eating meat. 

Your Canine Teeth Don’t Make You A Meat-Eater: Comparative Anatomy

In her new book, Mind If I Order The Cheeseburger?, Sherry F. Colb discusses the comparative anatomy of carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores. “[M]ammalian carnivores and omnivores share a number of physical attributes that make them well suited for killing and tearing apart their prey. They have a wide mouth opening, relative to head size; a simple jaw joint that operates as a stable hinge for effective slicing but which is ill-suited to side-to-side motion; and dagger-like teeth spaced apart to avoid trapping stringy debris. They also have sharp claws. (2) The mammalian carnivores and omnivores additionally have huge stomachs that enable gorging, an important capacity in animals who tend to average only about one kill per week. (3) These animals also have a very low gastric pH (which means their stomachs are very acidic), enabling the breakdown of highly concentrated protein as well as the killing of dangerous bacteria that typically colonize decaying flesh. (4)

…Each of these traits enables the lion or bear to use her body to kill prey. Herbivorous animals, by contrast, have fleshy lips, a small mouth opening, a thick and muscular tongue, and a far less stable, mobile jaw joint that facilitates chewing, crushing, and grinding. Herbivores also generally lack sharp claws. (14) These qualities are well-adapted to the eating of plants, which provide nutrients when their cell walls are broken, a process that requires crushing food with side-to-side motion rather than simply swallowing it in large chunks the way that a carnivore or omnivore swallows flesh.

Your Canine Teeth Don’t Make You A Meat-Eater: Science Confirms Humans Have No Biological Requirement For Animal Products 

Leading government and public health organizations worldwide now acknowledge that a vegan diet is not only a viable option for people of any age, but that eating plant foods instead of animal-based foods can confer significant health benefits, including reduction in incidence of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart attack, stroke, and some types of cancer.

American Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, the U.S.’s oldest, largest and foremost authority on diet and nutrition, also recognized that humans have no inherent biological or nutritional need for animals products: “It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.” For more information, see the full article, Catching Up With Science: Burying the “Humans Need Meat” Argument.

Your Canine Teeth Don’t Make You A Meat-Eater: You Have a Choice

Many people insist that eating animals is “natural” — and therefore morally neutral — because other animals eat animals. But it’s important to realize that, with a few exceptions, when humans kill other animals for food, we’re not doing what animals do in nature. Humans have no biological need to consume meat or any animal products. When animals kill other animals for food, they do as they must, in order to survive; they have no choice in the matter. Many humans, on the other hand, do have a choice, and when people with ample access to plant-based foods choose to consume animals anyway — because they can, or because they like the taste — they are not killing from necessity, as animals (and some humans in crisis or subsistence situations) do. Whether we’re talking about a lion taking down a water buffalo, or a human in some remote or impoverished location with no alternative to eating animals: these are acts of survival, and do not equate to, nor justify, the unnecessary exploitation and killing of animals for profit and pleasure.

Farmed animals are individuals with distinct personalities and emotions, just like our own cats and dogs. They feel affection, they form deep friendships, they long to be safe and happy, and to be free from fear and pain. Most of all, they share in common with us the desire to go on living. When we have access to plant-based foods, and understand that we have no need to consume animal products, then the question of eating animals really comes down to this basic question: when able to freely choose, would you rather help an animal, or harm one? If you believe it is better to help than to harm, then veganism is the only consistent expression of your values.

Source: Free of Harm

[vero-in-technicolor]

There are "canine" teeth in the mouth for a reason. I live on a small poultry and hobby farm (our chickens do live outside on real grass eating bugs), and I refuse to eat any meat that does not come from my home. I do not consume dairy. Respectable?

Hi :)

The reason humans have “canine” teeth is not for the same purpose as real carnivores:

Human beings and herbivorous animals have little mouths in relation to their head sizes, unlike carnivores, whose big mouths are all the better for “seizing, killing and dismembering prey,” argues nutrition specialist Dr. Milton R. Mills, associate director of preventive medicine for the Washington, D.C.-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). People and herbivores extensively chew their food, he says, whereas swallowing food whole is the preferred method of carnivores and omnivores.

Personally I don’t advocate for eating only animals you know, that for me would be like saying: “you can eat your cat since you know it’s from you home and you gave him a good life”

I advocate for seeing animals free, doesn’t matter where the food comes from, big or small farms or personal farms, those are living beings that weren’t put in this earth to be eaten by humans and that’s the base of Speciesism. 

Also I don’t like judging people, I’m not going to say if what you do it’s respectable or not because I’m not more than a human wanting to educate people, but I would say that it is possible to live without harming animals for us to eat, you already don’t consume dairy, so If you want to give a try to quit the animal products you still eat, I can offer you my help if you needed. :)

Take care.