biodiverseed:

powrd-by-plants:

Giant Vegans by VegArt

Rhinos also have tiny brains in relation to their size, and spend most of their day eating; elephants also spend 12-18 hours a day eating to support their remarkably inefficient digestive system. Pandas – another species that has to spend all day eating – have a gut flora that is adapted to eating meat, which is a reason they are basically catatonic all the time.

Almost all the other large animals that would fit this description, like cattle, goats, sheep, giraffes, yaks, deer, and antelope – are ruminants, meaning they have a specialised four-chamber stomach, with which they ferment and re-chew their food (the cud). They also spent most of their time eating.

The closest analogues we have for our gut shape are capuchin monkeys and savanna baboons, who are omnivores that: “make extensive use of their hands for pre-processing of high-quality food items.” All of the other great apes eat insects at the very least. Even our smallest closest relatives, bonobos, eat honey, eggs, and small animals.

We have a different evolutionary trajectory from all these animals: the human brain evolved to the size it is because of the uptick in protein consumption derived from the consumption of meat.