Comparison Between the Digestive Tracts of a Carnivore, a Herbivore and Man

Part 4: The gut of a human — The Shepherd

A look at the shepherd's digestive system shows that it is remarkably similar to that of the dog in form, digestive enzymes and length. The only significant difference is that our saliva contains amylase, an enzyme that is used to digest starch. However, in common with all carnivores, we have no digestive enzyme that will break down a plant's cell walls to release that starch. Unlike the sheep we also do not possess in our guts bacteria or other micro-organisms to do the job.

If we eat a largely plant-based diet, the bacteria in our colons will change the environment in our colons from alkaline to acid, which favours the herbivore-type fermentative bacteria. These will break down plant material but, as no absorption of nutrients these contain takes place in the human colon, this is of no nutritional value. All it does is upset our guts and cause flatulence!

The differences between the three species are summarised in Table 1.

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