V 

 MAMMALS AS A SOURCE OF HUMAN FOOD 



Within the limits of two brief chapters only the edges of the vari- 

 ous phases of the complex relation of mammals to the human food sup- 

 ply can be discussed. An adequate discussion of it would fill a book. 

 Much additional information and comment may be found under the 

 various species in the systematic portion of this volume. 



First and foremost should be considered mammals as a direct source 

 of the meat supply. If we accept the traditional alliterative subdivision 

 of meat into "flesh, fish and fowl," flesh signifies the meat derived 

 from mammals; fish must include the flesh of other cold-blooded ver- 

 tebrates (reptiles and amphibians), the meat of certain species of 

 which is relished by many people ; and fowl must include all birds, not 

 merely those usually designated as fowl. Taking the people of the 

 whole world into consideration, the flesh of mammals probably oc- 

 cupies a more commanding position in the food supply than all other 

 meat. 



Though used very extensively as food by people of certain regions, 

 particularly along seacoasts, there are vast areas where fishes are in- 

 significant in numbers or wholly wanting, because of the lack of a 

 suitable habitat. Who would expect to live on a fish diet in the Sa- 

 hara desert? Even on the well-populated Great Plains and in the Rocky 

 Mountains of western United States the quantity of native fishes con- 

 sumed is not relatively large, though augmented by shipments from the 

 Great Lakes and both oceans; while in the Great Basin and the arid 

 Southwest the native fish supply is almost entirely negligible. Domes- 

 tic chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese, and all the game birds brought 

 in by the hunter form only a small percentage of the total food of 

 the nation. The same holds true in the main also for the interior of 

 British America, Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, 

 Asia and Australasia. On the other hand, over a large part of the 

 world the flesh of mammals is a very substantial item in the bill of 

 fare, its consumption in some areas much exceeding that of grain, 

 vegetables and other direct products of the soil. 



By far the most important part of the world's meat supply is derived 



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