Why do gorillas have canine teeth?

I've been discouraging a friend of mine that want to change to raw diet only, my strongest point was that we ,humans, were born with canine teeth because consuming meats is a biological need to us and it is 100% natural,





he went out to ask at some websites and came with the answer that gorillas are more close to us in their DNA build, than any other animals, they have canines and they are herbivores... i tried to convince him by weakly arguing that they use it for other things like protection or crushing hard fruits,





he is still unconvinced and he 100% loyal to his diet, he refuses to eat cooked vegetables/ beans / rice / bread, he eats everything raw, he even refuses to eat vegetarian meats, i see him growing weaker and his overall health declining every day..





please help!





thanks for stopping by,

Why do gorillas have canine teeth?
It's true that Gorillas are herbivores and their DNA is 97%–98% identical to that of a human. However, Chimpanzees are closer to humans and are omnivores like us, so the argument above that we should be vegetarians like gorillas is inaccurate and misguided.





Humans evolved as omnivores, and our teeth reflect this history. We have relatively pathetic canine teeth compared to cats and even other primates such as baboons.





Back to Gorillas, their canines are used as weapons (against each other or predators) and also for crushing hard plant material like bamboo.





Good luck with your friend, archaeological and anthropological evidence, as well as medical research, suggest that cooking is obligatory for humans.
Reply:The name given to those teeth is confusing, because it wrongly implies "carnivore."





But the gorilla eats mostly fruit, like bananas, and other vegetation.





So the two pointy teeth come in handy for ripping the skin off fruit, etc. to get at the inner part of it.





Gorillas eat no dead animal parts. And neither should we. For a human's teeth and digestive tract are virtually identical to that of a gorilla's.





The muscle mass and strength of a gorilla also proves false the meat-industry propaganda that we need to eat meat to obtain enough protein to build muscle.
Reply:Gorillas are descended from omnivores that ate both meat and vegetables. Natural selection has not eliminated their canines since they entered their fruitivore niche just recently ( geologically speaking ) We are not obligate carnivores, so can subsist on vegetable matter. I have little to suggest about your friend. His diet seems more ideological than physiological



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