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Other animals eat animals, why shouldn't we? Isn’t it our natural place on the food chain?
Many people believe that it is natural for humans to kill and eat other animals because they observe other animals doing this in nature. One of the great differences between humans and other animals living in nature is that we have an extraordinary ability to exercise conscious choice in how we live our lives. This choice gives us the power to make decisions based on our conceptions of justice as well as on factors such as the primal drive to survive. For example, in nature, it can be observed in some species only a single dominant male mates with the females in a group. While some people might use this as a justification for the same behavior amongst humans, most of us would reject this for reasons of justice. An additional point to consider is whether it is "natural" for us to eat other animals because of our physiology and nutritional needs. Interestingly, while humans can be healthy eating some meat, there is a great deal of scientific evidence demonstrating that consumption of animal products is correlated with many chronic, life threatening diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis. In turn, there is scientific consensus on the fact that humans may be perfectly healthy eating a plant-based diet. In fact, the potential benefits of this diet are so great that many elite athletes have chosen it in order to maximize their performance. Comparative anatomy also offers compelling evidence. Our long digestive tract, for example, is much more similar to that of other animals who live on plant-based foods than to the very short digestive tract of true carnivores, who also have fangs and also lack the molars needed to chew fibrous plant foods. Consider the habit of consuming dairy products, often marketed as part of a "natural" lifestyle. In all of nature, can we find an example of another mammalian species that routinely consumes the mammary secretions (milk) of another species?
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