Eat or be eaten

[PsychoticEpisode]

Why has the animal kingdom evolved to where eating other organisms is paramount to survival? I know there are carnivorous plants out there but for the most part plants do not seek prey. Out of curiousity...are there plant eating plants? Would the first non-plant(is there a better word?) single celled creature have dined on live organic matter? I'll presume living plants were the main fare. When did the diet of animals graduate to the eating of other animals? Why? Did the predator-prey scenarios played out over the millenia contribute to increasing evolutionary adaptations?

I sometimes wonder if our violent tendencies were shaped by our need to kill living things to survive. It may be inbred, passed on for eons. Can anyone envision another alien biosphere within our universe without predation ever developing?

 

[RoyLennigan]

Why has the animal kingdom evolved to where eating other organisms is paramount to survival? I know there are carnivorous plants out there but for the most part plants do not seek prey. Out of curiousity...are there plant eating plants? Would the first non-plant(is there a better word?) single celled creature have dined on live organic matter? I'll presume living plants were the main fare. When did the diet of animals graduate to the eating of other animals? Why? Did the predator-prey scenarios played out over the millenia contribute to increasing evolutionary adaptations?

I sometimes wonder if our violent tendencies were shaped by our need to kill living things to survive. It may be inbred, passed on for eons. Can anyone envision another alien biosphere within our universe without predation ever developing?

single celled organisms were eating each other. its been around for about as long as life has been around. some organisms evolved to gain energy from chemicals and light around them, others evolved to get energy from chemicals in other organisms.