Its my belief that one of the main reason for eating meat is for its mineral and salts that it contains. Animals and the human animal will do anything to get the mineral salts it requires to survive. There are stories I've heard on the news for several years about moose and other animals licking up the salty roadside water when it melts in spring. Elephants and other animals digging deep caves for some salt in the middle of tropical Africa where vegetation has little salt minerals. Wild Parrots eat clay and even farm chickens eat rocks and dirt to get the minerals they need to lay eggs. Chimpanzees are geneticaly close to humans and only 2% of their diet is from animal sources, but spend over 90% of their time to get it. If we learn to obtain a proper balance of mineral salts through diet we should be able to thrive on vegetarian diet better and healthier than relying on animals for foods.