Some people may say that if a member of vegan tribe stranded on a desert island and ate an egg from a bird to survive, he'd then become an omnivore, although it only happened once. Hmf. Anyway - here are some common definitions.
Many will use omnivore or 'omni' about 'someone who eats all kinds of food', meaning that vegetarians and vegans aren't omnivores.
Others will state that a species that is perfectly capable of eating animal products without any unwanted side effects are omnivores, and say that 'omnivore' in this case don't take into consideration whether single persons actually do eat animal products or not. In order to document that these people are able to 'survive well' even if they consume eg. cow's milk or meat, they'd need to document that the many diseases associated with using these animal products aren't caused by using these animal products as such, but. of modern processing of these animal products.
The top hit on Google for omnivore (from wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn) is "a person who eats all kinds of foods". This would actually mean that in a society where milk from other species are considered food - a person who eats meat, but not dairy products or eg. fish technically wouldn't be an omnivore.... or? The definition is attached to single persons, not to species (when used about humans).
Is a lacto-vegetarian an omnivore if the only animal matter he eats is eg. cheese? Or eggs? I guess the answer is no, since omnivore isn't only about eating one type of animal matter or another... In general, I think the word 'omnivore' often creates more confusion than most other words (as we have seen in our different threads about human evolution).
Here are some more definitions I found in Google:
Most of these 15 definitions specifically mention meat/animals or use phrases like "all kinds of food" or "anything" (which therefore of course include meat/animals). Since no non-human animals continue to drink milk throughout their lives, and don't drink milk from other species, "animal matter" when used about animals realistically refers to eating parts of others' bodies, and not to drinking their milk.
Definitions of omnivore on the Web:
• a person who eats all kinds of foods
• an animal that feeds on both animal and vegetable substances
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
•Omnivores (from Latin: omne all, everything; vorare to devour) are species that eat both plants and animals as their primary food source. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnivore
•An animal which is able to consume both plants (like a herbivore) and meat (like a carnivore)
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/omnivore
omnivorous - feeding on both plants and animals
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
•A species that eats both meat and vegetable matter.
www.loaches.com/working-glossary
•an organism whose diet consists of a wide variety of foodstuffs, including plants and animals
www.coris.noaa.gov/glossary/glossary_l_z.html
•omnivorous - Birds that eat anything that is considered digestible/edible. American Crows are a common example.
http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/learn...ds-about-birds
•An omnivorous animal (omnivore) eats and digests both vegetable and animal foods. Green iguanas are herbivorous and eat only vegetable matter. Crocodiles are carnivorous and eat a wide variety of animals. Marmosets are omnivorous and eat both meat and vegetable foods.
www.crocodyluspark.com/glossary.htm
•An organism that eats both plant and animal material
http://www.skitsap.wednet.edu/145820...Vocabulary.doc
•Referring to the habit of consuming a broad variety of plant and animal foods
www.sdnhm.org/exhibits/mystery/fg_glossary.html
•Also: omnivorous, omnivory animal that consumes all kinds of food, particularly both animals and plants
pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/glossary
•One that eats meaty foods and vegetable foods.
www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_glossary.php
•Eating both plants and animals. OPERCULUM: A lid or flap of skin covering an opening. Examples are the flap of skin covering the gills of some fish and the hard calcite cover of the snail shell opening when the snail is drawn up inside the shell. ...
omp.gso.uri.edu/ompweb/doee/glossary/glossary.htm
•eats anything
www.carnegiemnh.org/mollusks/glossary.htm
Please let's not turn this thread into another "are humans natural omnivores"-discussion - we already have a few such threads! I'm only starting this thread to try to find out how you guys normally use the word omnivore.
The word 'omni' has been used hundreds, if not thousands of times on this board to loosely describe a person who eats "anything". Personally - when we talk about humans - I use the word omnivorous about single individuals, not about humans as a species, because it's obvious that there are hundreds of millions who don't eat meat, and since this is a vegan forum, we also obviously agree also that humans as a species don't need meat to survive and have a healthy life. I do not consider myself an omnivore.
When talking about other animals, I normally use carnivorous or omnivorous about the species, and not about single animals. Although eg. some cats live on vegan food (+ supplements; they need taurine), I consider cats "natural meat eaters", while humans may either be herbivorous or omnivorous. I guess I use omnivorous just like most vegans use 'omni' (someone who eats all kinds of foods). That way to use the word doesn't imply that the diet is healthy, natural, suitable or in anyway problem-free for humans as a species.
Although I know that use of animal products has been common throughout known parts of some our ancestors history, 'omni' or 'omnivorous' (when used about current humans) doesn't refer to what hominoid group X ate Y years ago and how that affected their health or life span, or whether they rather would have avoided animal products if they could.
How do you use the word omnivorous? (
(Or... is it too optimistic of me to assume that we can have a thread about this without turning into another "are humans as a species natural omnivores" thread? ;-))
Bookmarks