The list actually continues on & on , and yet the point has been clearly made clearly enough : we humans – despite possessing the ability to consume small amounts of the flesh &/ or the secretions from other animals when forced to do so – are plant-eaters by nature .
Some also argue that since chimpanzees ( our closet animal relatives ) eat meat , we humans should as well . And yet here once again , the science tends to say otherwise . In a recent Harvard University study ( researched by Conklin-Brittain , Wrangham & Smith ), meat consumption of the primates studied was so rare it was documented in the data under the title “ miscellaneous ” ( not even as “ meat ”). The study noted that chimps obtained less than 1 % of their calories from non-plant sources ( and these mostly via the consumption of insects – primarily termites ) … To put that into perspective for us humans , after rounding the Harvard figure up to a generous 1 %, the average chimpanzee insect consumption would equate to roughly 8 grams of meat a day for us humans – about the size of a cube of sugar . That ’ s right , if you truly desire to accurately mimic the “ omnivorous ” diets of our closest primate relatives ( which I personally do not recommend – as a pure vegan diet is not only more ethical , but much tastier & much healthier as well ), then you would be limited to one tiny fingertip of meat a day .
Of course , when it comes to ethical decisions as important as what foods we choose to put on our plates , do we really want to play “ monkey see , monkey do ” … … with monkeys ?
“ Eating meat is indeed absolutely natural [ in the animal kingdom ]. However , the fact that it is natural does not imply that it is ethically acceptable . If we believed that eating meat was ethically permissible simply because other animals did it as well , then this would imply that there is nothing wrong with rape , cannibalism , or infanticide , all of which routinely occur there .” ~ Eugene Khutoryansky
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