We are all on somebody’s menu, and that’s why the specializations that have developed in Nature to savour each prey, and each diet, have evolved in such amazing ways. Snakes don’t eat much, some can go without food for a whole year, but when they get to it, they can swallow preys many times bigger than its mouth or its head. The egg-eating snake beats every record. The Mata mata turtle does not eat, it just sucks!
Some species have opted for the opposite strategy to that of reptiles; ruminants never stop eating but they have to secrete more than 100 liters of saliva a day. Often the biggest eaters are the smallest creatures. A caterpillar has to eat up to 80,000 times its own weight to become a butterfly…
Eating provides all animals a great pleasure, similar to sexual pleasure, although it is not as intense, of course.
Hunger is the engine that drives the world. It guides the planet’s inhabitants, all the species, contributing to decide their adaptations.
