The Anatomy & Physiology of Vertebrates

I have been working on a more complete look at the anatomy and physiology of the 4 main types of vertebrate land animals and have compiled the chart below.

Please take a look and let me know what you think. I once thought we were Herbivores but now know we are more like other Frugivores. While I do believe many factors come into play with regard to our specific and individual biochemical make up, I will agree that it does appear that the Human physiology is designed to ideally consume these types of foods. In what quantities, combinations, and times is left  up to the eater and how it all feels in the body.

While we can eat anything we want, if we look purely at the science and desire optimal health, we will experiment eating these foods in various combinations, quantities, and even times of the day to find what creates optimal health for our unique biochemical makeup. We are each very unique and have at least 7 factors to consider as we make our food choices and experiment with how it feels in our body. I will discuss this more in depth in another blog next week but a quick over view of these important considerations are:

1. Blood type
2. Ayurvedic Constitution
3. Dominant Endocrine System
4. Fast or Slow Glucose Oxidizer
5. Acid/Alkaline
6. Anabolic/Catabolic
7. Sympathetic/Parasympathetic

A Comparison Chart of the Anatomy and Physiology of Vertebrates:

	Carnivores	Omnivores	Herbivores	Frugivores
Species Included:	Cats, Cheetahs, lions, etc.	Birds (chickens, turkeys, etc.), hogs, & dogs	Horses, cows, sheep, elephants, deer, giraffes	Humans & primates (apes, chimps, monkeys)
Diet:	Mainly meats, come veggies, grasses & herbs	Some meat, vegetables, fruits, roots, & some barks.	Veggies, herbs, & some roots & barks	Mainly fruits, nuts, seeds, sweet veggies, & herbs
Skeletal Structures:
Facial Muscles	Reduced to allow wide mouth gape	Reduced	Well-developed	Well-developed
Jaw Type	Angle not expanded	Angle not expanded	Expanded angle	Expanded angle
Jaw Joint Location	On same plane as molar teeth	On same plane as molar teeth	Above the plane of the molars	Above the plane of the molars
Jaw Motion	Shearing; minimal side-to-side motion	Shearing; side-to-side motion, minimal front-to-back	No shear; grinding side-to-side, front-to-back	Multidorectional, dimentional, efficient masticating
Major Jaw Muscles	Temporalis	Temporalis	Masseter and pterygoids	Masseter and pterygoids
Mouth Opening Vs. Head Size	Large	Large	Small	Small
Teeth: Insicors	Short and pointed	Short and pointed	8 on front part of jaw; Broad, flattened and spade shaped	8, Broad, flattened and spade shaped
Teeth: Canines	Long, sharp and curved	Long, sharp and curved, tusk like or beak	2 Dull and short or long (for defense), or none	2, Short and blunted
Teeth: Molars	Sharp, jagged and blade shaped	Sharp blades and/or flattened	5 on each side of jaw; Flattened with cusps vs complex surface	14, Flattened with nodular cusps; includes cuspids & bicuspids
Chewing	None; swallows food whole	Swallows food whole and/or simple crushing	Extensive chewing necessary	Extensive chewing necessary
Tail	yes	yes	yes	some
Digestive System:
Tongue	very rough (for pulling and tearing)	moderate to rough	moderately rough	smooth, used mainly as shovel
Saliva, Salivary Glands	No digestive enzymes, no glands	No digestive enzymes, underactive glands, acid	Carbohydrate digesting enzymes, alkaline	Carbohydrate digesting enzymes, alkalline
Stomach Type	SImple structure, small round sack	Simple structure	oblong, ringed, multiple chambers (complex)	oblong, 2 compartments (simple)
Stomach Acidity	Less than or equal to pH 1 with food in stomach, Strong and continuous HCL flow.	About pH 1 with food in stomach, moderate gastric acids (HCL & pepsin)	pH 4 to 5 with food in stomach, weak acid	pH 4 to 5 with food in stomach, weak acid
Stomach Capacity	60% to 70% of total volume of digestive tract	60% to 70% of total volume of digestive tract	Less than 30% of total volume of digestive tract	21% to 27% of total volume of digestive tract
Small Intestine	3 to 6 times body length (short), smooth	4 to 6 times body length, somewhat sacculated (accounts for ability to eat veggies).	10 to more than 12 times body length, long, sacculated (ringed) for extensive absorption	10 to 11 times body length, sacculated for extensive absorption
Liver	Can detoxify vitamin A, 50% larger than a humans; very complex with 5 distinct chambers; heavy bie flow for heavy gastric juices.	Can detoxify vitamin A. Complex and larger proportionally than that of humans	Cannot detoxify vitamin A. Similar to Human but larger in capacity	Cannot detoxify vitamin A. Simple, average size (not large & complex like carnivores)
Eliminative System:
Colon	Simple, short, smooth (non-sacculated), minimal ability for absorption.	Simple, short and smooth. Minimal absorption.	Long, complex, sacculated for extensive absortion	Long, sacculated for extensive absorption
GI tract	3 times length of spine	10 times the length of the spine	30 times length of spine	12 times length of spine
Urinary System:
Kidney	Extremely concentrated urine, acidic	Extremely concentrated urine, acidic	Moderately concentrated urine, alkaline	Moderately concentrated urine, alkaline
Extremeties (limbs)
Hands (upper front)	claw type	hoofs, claws, and paws	hoofs	fingers for picking, peeling, and tearing
Feet (lower back)	claw type	hoofs, claws, and paws	hoofs	toes
Quadrupeds	walks on all four	walks on all 4 extemeties; except for birds which have and walk on 2 legs only.	walks on all 4 extremeties	walks upright on 2 extremeties
Nails	Sharp claws	Sharp claws	Flattened nails or blunt hooves	Flattened nails
Integumentary System:
Skin	100% covered with hair	Smooth, oily, hair or feathers	pores with extensive hair covering entire body	pores with minimal hair
Sweat Glands	Uses tongue and has sweat glands in food pads only.	very minimal; only around snout (hogs) and foot pads (dogs and none on birds.	includes millions of perspiration ducts	includes millions of perspiration ducts