Regards,
TDL

Thanks!

Near the end of the episode, the narrator mentions that Diamond believes that cultural differences between populations, these are the consequences of natural environmental differences, not the causes. That seems reasonable, and the same would be true of biological differences, too.

Consider cows again. Some peoples did not have access to Aurochs, and so did not have to make the cultural changes needed to look after (and eventually domesticate) wild cattle. Likewise, those people without access would not have experienced cow-centric evolution, including lactose tolerance.

Perhaps there's some difference between cows and pigs that makes it easier to adapt cows to give milk for humans? A wild guess – pigs give birth to litters, so they wouldn't have any milk left over for humans, whereas cows give birth to single calfs.

Probably some guy who thought, “I am starving to death. I wonder if I can digest this?” And as lactose tolerance has evolved independently in different groups, one presumes that level of desperation was reached many times in many places.

The lack of pig milk drinking is odd, as is the widespread perception of pigs as filthy. I wonder if it is because boars and pigs (unlike the extinct aurochs and domestic cattle) eat people?

“I wonder if it is because boars and pigs (unlike the extinct aurochs and domestic cattle) eat people?”

As well as each other. And yet there's no mad pig disease to levy a price on cannibalism. Interesting post and discussion.

BTW, what do you suppose Calvin's reaction would have been to the realization that humans give milk too?*smile*

Jay, good point… but one gets mad-human disease from eating human brains, but that hasn't stopped neural mutations against that from spreading in all populations (meaning, cannibalism's so common natural selection has been busy protecting from its side-effects)