FND 401 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Omnivore, Neophobia, Koala
29 Jan 2020
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Document Summary
Unlike specialized eaters, an omnivore has the precious ability to thrive on a multitude of different foodstuffs and diets, and so to adapt to changes in its environment. In all cases, the human omnivore is able to live on the available foods. He can survive the disappearance of the species on which previously fed; he can move about, change his ecosystem. But this liberty also has some constraints. An omnivore, unlike specialized eaters, cannot obtain all the nutrients it needs from one food. The koala bear subsists on a single food, the leaves of a particular. If it is deprived of this food, it cannot survive. But its specific competence, like that of other herbivores or the specialized carnivores, is that it can derive all the nutrients its body needs from a single food. Man, by contrast, has an absolute need of a minimum of variety.
