# For Glen
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [October 23, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748 "2007-10-23T20:31:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@KClarkson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KClarkson)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/1 "2007-10-23T20:31:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Your statement that “we were born to eat meat” is nonsense. In using comparative anatomy to determine what man was “meant” to eat, we should look at the species most similar to man, namely the anthropoid apes–chimpanzees, gibbons, gorillas, and orangutans. Of all animals, man’s digestive organs and teeth most closely resemble these apes.
[http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN2244829320070222](http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN2244829320070222)
That’s all I have to say…
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/2 "2007-10-23T20:41:58Z")
In case others are as clueless as I, [Are humans meat eaters or vegetarians by nature?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_087.html) here’s a link to the column(and a response from “Glen”).
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/3 "2007-10-23T20:47:38Z")
From **KClarkson’s** link,
> [@](#):
>
> Chimpanzees have been seen using spears to hunt bush babies, U.S. researchers said on Thursday in a study that demonstrates a whole new level of tool use and planning by our closest living relatives.
>
> Perhaps even more intriguing, it was only the females who fashioned and used the wooden spears…
Sheesh! It’s not enough they get to share an opposable thumb, now they’ve learned to use _tools_. :eek:
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2007, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/4 "2007-10-23T21:22:23Z")
Hate to break this to ya, **Sam** , but I’ve seen one ride a motorcycle.
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### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/5 "2007-10-23T21:31:15Z")
[QUOTE=samclem]
In case others are as clueless as I, [Are humans meat eaters or vegetarians by nature?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_087.html) here’s a link to the column(and a response from “Glen”).
[/QUOTE]
In his response to Glen he says this :
> [@](#):
>
> Here it seems to me the best evidence is our history as a species. We have been happily eating meat for at least two million years, and probably much longer.
Has our species been around for 2 million years? Isn’t it more like 200,000 at most?
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### Author:  [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/6 "2007-10-23T21:52:24Z")
Wow, I have to say, chimps hunting with spears is pretty huge news. I know they’ve been observed using tools for a long time, but this really narrows the gap between animal and person. It’s quite amazing.
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### Author:  [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/7 "2007-10-24T02:35:02Z")
[QUOTE=Alan Smithee]
Wow, I have to say, chimps hunting with spears is pretty huge news. I know they’ve been observed using tools for a long time, but this really narrows the gap between animal and person. It’s quite amazing.
[/QUOTE]
Next, it’ll be iPods. :eek:
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2007, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/8 "2007-10-24T02:55:01Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq]
Next, it’ll be iPods. :eek:
[/QUOTE]
…or taking Bar exams. 🙂
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### Author:  [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2007, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/9 "2007-10-24T10:48:02Z")
[QUOTE=samclem]
…or taking Bar exams. 🙂
[/QUOTE]
Hehehe, let 'em!! If they are stupid enough to do that, they are welcome to join the human race! :smack: 😃
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/10 "2007-10-24T15:18:50Z")
[QUOTE=Alan Smithee]
Wow, I have to say, chimps hunting with spears is pretty huge news.
[/QUOTE]
[That’s nothing](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkviIYKjPyw).
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/11 "2007-10-24T15:41:23Z")
[QUOTE=Alan Smithee]
Wow, I have to say, chimps hunting with spears is pretty huge news. I know they’ve been observed using tools for a long time, but this really narrows the gap between animal and person. It’s quite amazing.
[/QUOTE]
It makes you wonder whether they’ve been doing this for thousands of years and we’ve just barely caught them at it, or if chimps are in the middle of a milestone in their own evolution. I suppose they aren’t mutually eclusive possiblities.
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/12 "2007-10-24T19:12:50Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone]
Hate to break this to ya, **Sam** , but I’ve seen one ride a motorcycle.
[/QUOTE]
Just some little rice burner, hardly a proper bike at all.
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2007, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/13 "2007-10-24T19:17:07Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra]
Just some little rice burner, hardly a proper bike at all.
[/QUOTE]
I’ve never seen one on a Harley, even though we keep putting those ape hangers on there. How much more invitation do they need?
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/14 "2007-10-24T19:41:03Z")
[QUOTE=samclem]
…or taking Bar exams. 🙂
[/QUOTE]
Or [Riverdancing](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKYoNNUCMLw).
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### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/15 "2007-10-24T19:56:39Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp]
It makes you wonder whether they’ve been doing this for thousands of years and we’ve just barely caught them at it, or if chimps are in the middle of a milestone in their own evolution. I suppose they aren’t mutually eclusive possiblities.
[/QUOTE]
If I remember aright, it was only in my lifetime that it was discovered that chimps ate meat at all.
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### Author:  [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/16 "2007-10-24T21:39:41Z")
[QUOTE=John W. Kennedy]
If I remember aright, it was only in my lifetime that it was discovered that chimps ate meat at all.
[/QUOTE]
So when did they discover the relish?
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2007, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/17 "2007-10-24T21:43:53Z")
[QUOTE=Alan Smithee]
So when did they discover the relish?
[/QUOTE]
Well, the true sign of their evolution was not when they discovered the relish, but when they abandoned the ketchup.
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### Author:  [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/18 "2007-10-24T22:59:36Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal]
In his response to Glen he says this :Has our species been around for 2 million years? Isn’t it more like 200,000 at most?
[/QUOTE]
Last I heard, The jury’s still out due to lack of evidence.
Half the issues seems to be getting people to agree how old fossils are when we actually find them.
But there is come evidence that supports the idea of hominids 2 millions years ago, but it wasn’t Homo Sapiens.
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### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/19 "2007-10-24T23:02:58Z")
[QUOTE=essell]
But there is come evidence that supports the idea of hominids 2 millions years ago, but it wasn’t Homo Sapiens.
[/QUOTE]
So, it wouldn’t be our species then, right? Cecil said “our history as a species.”
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### Author:  [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-glen/423748/20 "2007-10-25T02:35:04Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal]
So, it wouldn’t be our species then, right? Cecil said “our history as a species.”
[/QUOTE]
Our genus originated ~2 million years ago though, and I believe even the oldest members of _Homo_ are thought to eat meat. I assume thats what Cecil is referring to.
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