this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2024
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That is a tortoise, not a turtle.
Yep! Some tortoises are omnivores, as are most turtles, but definitely not the one pictured here. That being said, if it’s truly being used as an example of the “oldest” animals being herbivores, the longest living creature we know of is the Greenland Shark, which has a generalist diet.
Gorillas are clearly omnivores and eat insects, snails, larvae, etc. Really should not have been used as an example here.
Elephants are herbivores, though like most herbivores they have been known to occasionally eat small animals. This is so rare it’s really not even worth mentioning though. Again though, blue whales are even larger and eat krill, not plants.
I’m all for being vegan but let’s actually be scientifically correct about it, otherwise nobody will listen to us.
I mean, I can throw a compilation link of horses eating all sorts of small animals that cross their paths. Cool that you want to be a vegan yourself but I can't think of any animal that isn't opertunistic to free calories.
Cool. Good context. As soon as I saw the gorilla I was like, mmmmok. Should have put a horse or something. Horses are super strong.
Horses are pretty opportunistic too. You are supposed to be quite careful with chompables around them.
AFAIK, the Greenland shark is mainly a carnivore/scavenger
There is no overall consensus on how the terms "turtle", "tortoise", or "terrapin" should be used. Whether a tortoise is a turtle or not is a colloquial issue not a scientific one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortoise#Terminology