[Sigia-l] graded categories?

[Davezilla]

On 3/5/06, Alexander Johannesen <alexander.johannesen at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ah, but omnivores are a super-category of carnivore, depending on how
> you dice it. :) Yet another example of this silly categorisation
> business we're involved in.

Heh, just found this on a vegetarian site:

Confusion between Taxonomy and Diet

Much of the misinformation on the issue of man's being a natural
vegetarian arises from confusion between taxonomic (in biology, the
procedure of classifying organisms in established categories) and
dietary characteristics.

Members of the mammalian Order Carnivora may or may not be exclusive
meat eaters. Those which eat only meat are carnivores. Dietary
adaptations are not limited by a simple dichotomy between herbivores
(strict vegetarians) and carnivores (strict meat-eaters), but include
frugivores (predominantly fruit), gramnivores (nuts, seeds, etc.),
folivores (leaves), insectivores (carnivore-insects and small
vertebrates), etc. Is is also important to remember that the relation
between the form (anatomy/physiology) and function (behavior) is not
always one to one. Individual anatomical structures can serve one or
more functions and similar functions can be served by several forms.


--
Color me gone,
Davezilla
http://davezilla.com/