The kosher animals are generally neither intelligent nor resourceful. They’re generally easy to domesticate, herd, and tend. Although deer seem to me to be too swift to tend easily.
Have you ever tried to domesitcate a giraffe? 
Zev Steinhardt
If one were to accidentally consume a non-kosher food, would that be considered a sin?
It depends. As with all actions in Judaism, there are different levels of “accident.”
The first level is called mayzid. A mayzid is a purposeful act, and, as such, a Jew who eats non-kosher food in such a manner is committing a sin.
The second level is called a shogeg. A shogeg bears some degree of negligence. The classic example of a shogeg is someone who travels home by train on Friday afternoon, but did not leave sufficient time to allow for normal delays before the Sabbath begins. WRT foods, a shogeg could be someone who, upon finding out that he ate non-kosher, realized that he could have prevented it by doing a more thourough investigation. Such a person bears some degree of guilt, but not to the extent of a mayzid.
The third level is called ones (pronounced oh-NES). An ones is someone who was completely beyond fault. An example of an ones WRT foods would be someone who ate a food that was certified as kosher by a reliable kashrus certification agency, but then later found out (through a press release from the agency) that the food, in fact, contained non-kosher ingredients. The famous dictum in the Talmud is ones rachmana patrei – an ones is considered exempt from any punishments regarding his failure.
Zev Steinhardt
I’m not sure I understand this correctly. If for example kosher wine was used for Christian communion does that mean that particular bottle of wine is now forbidden?
FWIW my church uses grape juice so children (and incidentally recovering alcoholics) can commune though we have no prohibition against alcohol.
Correct. Items used in religious rituals of other religions become forbidden not only for consumption, but for any benefit. Thus they can’t be eaten, sold, burned for fire fuel, fed to one’s animals, etc. The prohibition has nothing to do with it being wine vs. grape juice.
Zev Steinhardt
Or even worse, hang one upside down to bleed it correctly.
Thanks for the clarification Zev.
Giraffe is kosher? Kewl! 
Let’s have a cookout!
Okay, who wants the thingies on top of the giraffe head?
Seriously… I never realized (or maybe forgot) that giraffe is kosher. Does it otherwise act comparable to cattle & sheep?
In order for a mammal to be kosher it must have split hooves and chew it’s cud. Since a giraffe meets both those qualifications, it’s kosher. It has nothing to do with the way the animal behaves. (However, since carnivores do not chew their cuds, there are no kosher carnivores. You may read into that what you wish.)
Zev Steinhardt
JeffB:
As others have pointed out, it does carry the force of law.
There are certain circumstances in which a Rabbinic law is treated differently from a Biblical law - most notably in cases of doubtful violation - but for all intents and pourposes, they are to be considered as equal.
Hey, dumb question, but as long as you all are here:
Herbivorous Dinosaurs: Kosher or not?
I was debating a “scientific” creationist on the whole Flood story and he said that since men and dinosaurs lived at the same time, Noah took dinosaurs on the ark. The debate ended up degenerating of course, but he said they wouldn’t have been kosher so Noah only needed one pair, not the seven that are required for Kosher animals (as if that would make a difference with say, Brontosauruses)
And does the “Birds evolved from dinosaurs” theory have any change your answer?
Fenris
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Except that (in Jewish tradition) man wasn’t permitted to eat meat until after the flood anyway…
In any event, there are no kosher reptiles. So, if through the magic of a Jurassic Park-type cloning you can come up with a dinasour, it would still be unkosher.
Nope. The Torah is very explicit on which birds are kosher and which one’s aren’t.
Zev Steinhardt
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But wait…if that’s the case, then why was Abel raising sheep?
(One of the drawbacks to a very Reform background: I’m somewhat embarassed to realize how much I don’t know about my own religion. I’d never heard of that tradition. Or several other things in this thread.)
Fenris
Fenris:
We just had this question in another thread.
Answer : wool.
Chaim Mattis Keller
Yes, you are right. I consulted Rabbi Reuven Laffer of Jerusalem, shlita, and asked:
He replied:
Net position: you are right, and I am wrong.
But I thought the Jewish law was “You will not drown the calf in its mother’s milk” Chickens and turkeys do not produce milk.
So you can not eat pork but you can eat pig-like products just as long as there is no pork in them?
Religions are weird.
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You are correct that by strict Biblical law, mixing poultry & milk together is OK. However, the Rabbis enacted a decree forbidding poultry and milk mixtures. The reason for this was because they were afraid that since poultry flesh is similar to “real” meat, one may become confused and actually eat milk & meat together.
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In short, God said “Don’t eat pigs.” He didn’t say “Don’t eat anything that tastes like a pig.”
Zev Steinhardt
But there’s the rub!
First, how does a Jew know that those faux bacon bits taste like a pig? Perhaps they’re the subject of a mild joke by the goyim saying “Oh sure, it tastes just like pork! If you listen closely you can almost hear the oink!”
Second, if a Jew is eating faux bacon bits and they love them wouldn’t they be leading themselves down the road of temptation towards the city of sin because one day they’ll just think “Oy, these fake bacon bits are mishegas, I want the real thing” possibly leading them to a mayzid. If the fake stuff tastes so good, how fabulous could the real stuff be to the palate and the tummy?
One quick (and offtopic) question though. Can a Jew eat something labelled “Helal” and it’d still be rabbinically considered Kosher or are there subtle things that would keep them from even trying something that is helal? Would the same go for a Muslim confronted with something Kosher but not Helal?
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Well, in most cases, in order for a food to be considered kosher, it must be certified as such by people who watch the production of said food. Since most commercial “bacon-bits” are overseen by rabbinical authorities, one can rely on them to insure that there are no pork products in the mix.
If the Rabbis felt that this was a real danger, they could have enacted legislation against it. The fact of the matter is that they didn’t.
Zev Steinhardt