Are there many evolutionary differences between the methods used for vomiting? Do insects vomit or birds (apart from when feeding their young). I think this is a very understudied area, what knowledge do people have on this subject? Can you list the animals you have seen vomit? My list is: Human Cat Dog
humans and their domestic animals are the only ones that eat outside of their natural food sources, so are the only ones that need to vomit really. i think most animals have the ability, but animals dont eat what they know isnt good for them, so you will only see them throw up when you poison them.
Nonsense. The main reason humans vomit is due to the noroviruses, which cause 90% of infectious gastro cases. The norovirus is HIGHLY contagious. The remaining ten percent of infectious cases includes other viruses, and bacteria from food poisoning. If anything, our 'diet' is responsible for only a very small percentage of cases of vomiting, and that is because the food isn't fresh. From my understanding, we don't see many animals throw up because they die rather quickly. Severe gastro is treatable in humans... and you can be hospitalized if you aren't getting enough fluids. This doesn't happen in nature. Animals don't have a tap of running water nearby... or a hospital to administer fluids IV.
I was at the Zoo yesterday and by the giraffe section they had a sign. Do not feed the giraffe, it will make them sick. Does anyone know if this use of sick is vomit? Or ill? I have googled it but no info on giraffe vomit Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Surely it would be a great experiance to watch if they did vomit? I wonder how long it would take to travel up the neck and how the muscles achieve this?
the bodies natural response to foods which will make it sick is to vomit, so i imagine it would vomit eventually. if you want to see this in action, drink a bottle of vodka.
I think an inner ear has something to do with vomiting. Like rats can't get airsick, car sick, plane sick or any kind of air sick. I'm told this has to do with our simian heritage. While swinging around in trees and eating fruit, we were bound to stumble upon hallucinogens. Since spinning and seeing colors would be pretty dangerous way up in a tree, a natural response to puke it up evolved. Now any time we're spnning around we just puke up. Hedgehogs puke, too. I bet there's lot sof stuff out there you could get sick if you wanted too, though I think it'd be mainly omnivores.
Good point, one of a plants best defences is to make its unwelcome eater vomit. So being sick not only protects us but has allowed plants to evolve. Its things like this that make nature so interesting, how it all interacts and it all fits into a much bigger picture.
Very interesting, but the only time I have vomitted is when I drink too much alcohol too quickly. Very interesting.
My dogs eat grass, apparently, to make themselves throw up. I don't know why they do this. One is a siberian huskey, and he taught Gator, the younger mutt, to do it too. Very strange, if you ask me. Any veterinarians out there?
maybe they realise they have ingested something poisonous, but not enough of it to make them bring it back up, so they just use a slightly less poisonous substnace to provoke vomiting
not vomit so much as a nutrient rich mucus. vomit is caused by illness, honey is more like placenta for the larvae
Cottontop3000: I'll try to research this more fully but I have always been told that dogs eat grass when they are sick - don't know (dvsparky@hotmail.com). In any case, many animals regirgetate their food - did I spell that right? - in order to feed their young: especially birds and some mammals. They first eat the food and then ingest it through the enzymes in their stomach (some mammals, like cows, have a dual stomach system) and then regergitate it (vomit) so that their young can digest it better.
