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But brain to body size is determined by meat and fat consumption. Gorillas are big primates for their brain size. Chimps eat quite a bit of meat, and are not o
by huffmsa 8y ago
But brain to body size is determined by meat and fat consumption.
Gorillas are big primates for their brain size. Chimps eat quite a bit of meat, and are not only generally ranked "smarter", but have a bigger brain for their relative body size.
- strainer 8y agoGracile Chimps (bonobos) eat "fruits, nuts, shoots, stems, pith, leaves, roots, flowers and tubers. Mushrooms are occasionally eaten, and invertebrates such as termites, worms and grubs make up a small proportion of their diet." - their brains are JUST AS BIG as their carnivorous cousin species. So we have a direct comparison between two very closely related great apes that strongly indicates no evolutionary brain growth advantage of carnivorous diet. This theory seems to have a single example of an exceptionally large brained predator to claim that predation enables exceptionally large brains - humans. Humans are omnivores - traders, cookers, testers, diversifiers - some human cultures don't eat any meat - and they don't all have little heads as a result. Ive always liked butter and fatty cuts btw, (from well treated hence healthy livestock) but I'm not buying into this pop-sci that eating extra will feed my brain, or that this is what separates our kind from the dumb herbivores - meat fat feeds almost exclusively my paunch ! :]