> if we take the common cattle for example, their digestive system does not even resemble ours. Cattle are built for eating grass they have four compartments of the stomach called: rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum all of which contained microbes that break down vegetation into volatile fatty acids that provide 60% 80% percent of the energy needed for a cattle.
whereas with humans we only have one stomach which shortens time for microbes to work at food.
>cattle saliva contains sodium bicarbonate which is meant to keep the rumen (honeycomb like structures in the cow's stomach compartment) neutral for good bacteria growth
>whereas with humans our stomach pH resides at 1.5-3.5, this is meant to break down microbes, characteristic of carnivores stomachs that kill parasites likely residing in other animals upon consumption of them. this shows our carnivorous side, and that we wouldn't be able to break down plant material efficiently enough to get all of our energy
>our saliva contains salivary amylase which is an enzyme that breaks down starches showing our herbivorous side as plants store most of their energy in the form of starches.
>our dentition shows with molars needing to grind up plant material, and incisors and canines to rip apart flesh. more omnivorous evidence.
> a cow's intestine is 40 meters long whereas a human's is 7.5-8.5 meters long, the long transit time in the cow allows for further plant breakdown, an animal that is physiologically herbivorous but if humans were as well, would not be able to extract enough energy from plant material.
