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I suspect it's not about transportation costs so much as ecology. The amount of biomass available to animals at the top of the food pyramid is inversely propor

I suspect it's not about transportation costs so much as ecology. The amount of biomass available to animals at the top of the food pyramid is inversely proportional to the height of the pyramid. Energy and nutrients would be an extremely precious resource in a Mars colony that has to do all its farming under domes. Far too precious to waste on cattle. It's true that human cultures have historically relied on animals to convert inedible biomass into edible biomass, or to produce other materials. But those cultures didn't have all sorts of modern technologies such as hydroponics, engineered microbes, or chemical labs. And unlike the area where human cultures first developed, Mars isn't exactly known for its large quantities of available pasture land just sitting around waiting for grazing.

stcredzero 14y ago
> I suspect it's not about transportation costs so much as ecology. The amount of biomass available to animals at the top of the food pyramid is inversely proportional to the height of the pyramid. Right on. The thing to remember here, is that, as Feynmann says, plants make themselves out of air! < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1pIYI5JQLE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1pIYI5JQLE > (If you doubt, go back to your basic biology education and remember the formula for photosynthesis.) So a Mars colony's farms are basically chemical solar collectors doing two things: 1) providing chemical energy to the colonists (food) and 2) Converting Martian CO2 and water into biomass. If you introduce too many warm blooded animals into the system, a lot of your energy input gets wasted as livestock body heat. tldr - By going vegetarian at first, the Mars colony accumulates usable biomass faster.