plants, are rich rather than starchy Because fat is critical to animal life, most animals are able to take advantage of abundant food by laying down large stores of fat Many species, from insects to fish to birds to mammals, gorge themselves in preparation for migration, breeding, or surviving seasonal scarcity Some migratory birds put on 50% of their lean weight in fat in just a few weeks, then fly 3,000 to 4,000 kilometers from the northeast United States to South America without refueling In seasonally cold parts of the world, fattening has been part of the resonance of autumn, the time when wild game animals are at their plumpest and most appealing, and when humans practice their cultural version of fattening, the harvest and storing of crops that will see them through winter’s scarcity Humans have long exploited the fattening ability of our meat animals by overfeeding them before slaughter, to make them more succulent and flavorful (p 135) Humans as Meat Eaters Meat became a predictable part of the human diet beginning around 9,000 years ago, when early peoples in the Middle East managed to tame a handful of wild animals — first dogs, then goats and sheep, then pigs and cattle and horses — to live alongside them Livestock not only transformed inedible grass and scraps into nutritious meat, but constituted a walking larder, a store of concentrated nourishment that could be harvested whenever it was needed Because they were adaptable enough to submit to human control, our meat animals have flourished and now number in the billions, while many wild animals are being squeezed by the growth of cities and farmlands into ever smaller habitats, and their populations are declining The History of Meat Consumption ... Meat became a predictable part of the human diet beginning around 9,000 years ago, when early peoples in the Middle East managed to tame a handful of wild animals — first dogs, then goats and sheep, then pigs and cattle and. .. Because they were adaptable enough to submit to human control, our meat animals have flourished and now number in the billions, while many wild animals are being squeezed by the growth of cities and. .. billions, while many wild animals are being squeezed by the growth of cities and farmlands into ever smaller habitats, and their populations are declining The History of Meat Consumption