Why are cows so big if they are herbivores?

Nate Silvers

Nate Silvers

Nate Silvers

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And horses too. Some of the biggest mammals don't eat meat so where do they get all their protein from? I mean people eat beef to build muscle which is ironic because the cow didn't eat any beef. Why not cut out the middle man and go straight for the grass?
 
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I don't get why you have beef against cows, I mean it's quite mooving really. Same with the horses, I guess it's a nay.

Guess I'll trot along here. :p
 
Nate Silvers said:
And horses too. Some of the biggest mammals don't eat meat so where do they get all their protein from?
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What about the people who put on a load of muscle while in prison? They certainly aren't getting protein rich diets.

I mean people eat beef to build muscle which is ironic because the cow didn't eat any beef. Why not cut out the middle man and go straight for the grass?
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The consumption of protein rich food doesn't really build muscle, people do weights to build muscle, they eat beef and other protein rich foods to help with muscle repair after lifting weights. Eating meat isn't necessary for building mass.

It's also not ironic at all.
 
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It's not a stupid question actually and I already know the answer I just wanted to see what people thought they knew and if anyone else is clued up.
 
It is a stupid question, cows have a more complicated digestive system that can break down vegetation and absorb the proteins. Humans can't. So we eat things that can. The cycle of life.
 
Because we're higher up the food chain, why bother with the grass when we can eat the thing that ate the grass!

There's a great episode of Through The Wormhole on this, pretty much points out that should Aliens successfully find us and get here, they'd probably eat us!

The amount of grass needed, per day, to power a sheep brain.
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The amount of grass needed, per day, to power a human brain.
tumblr_m698ekHR761qmamkso2_r2_400.gif
 
wannabedamned said:
It's not, but as usual the mightier than though crowd perks up in some form or another.
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It is stupid though, everyone knows that cows have four stomachs, by a simple step of logic you should be able to guess this is why they can only eat plants and humans don't have the required anatomy.

Edit: The horses is a better question, but again it should be immediately obvious they have evolutionary differences in digestion.
 
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Pudney said:
It is stupid though, everyone knows that cows have four stomachs, by a simple step of logic you should be able to guess this is why they can only eat plants and humans don't have the required anatomy.
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It's not a stupid question. 4 stomachs means nothing. Quantity has no relevance on efficiency. In theory super-cows will just have one mega stomach that is as efficient as a cows 4.
 
desires said:
It's not a stupid question. 4 stomachs means nothing. Quantity has no relevance on efficiency. In theory super-cows will just have one mega stomach that is as efficient as a cows 4.
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4 stomachs means everything due to the process in how grass is broken down and the way they work. It has nothing to do with quantity being more efficient.

If the question is, "how does a cow's stomachs help it grow big", that's a good question for learning. If the question is "why don't humans just eat grass" then it's stupid.
 
An elephant is the largest herbivore now.

In the Dinosaur world Argentinosaurus was the biggest herbivore - it was a sauropod from the cretaceous period. it was about 21.4 meters (70 feet) tall, about 36.6 meters (120 feet) long, and weighed up to 100 tons (cut & pasted).
 
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