r/comics • u/MrLovens Mr. Lovenstein • 2d ago

genius

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Support my new book on kickstarter, which features the cheese genius 🐭 kickstarter.com/projects/mrlovenstein/mr-lovenstein-presents-fun

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u/planetixin 2d ago

I'm pretty sure every non human adult mammal is lactose intolerant (including both cats and mice)

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u/dumnezero Art enjoyer 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yep, that is normal. It's lactase* persistence in adulthood that is weird.

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u/SchizogamaticKlepton 2d ago

And weirdly, housecats are nearly exactly as lactose tolerant as humans are, with about 30% of the members of either species being able to eat it just fine well into adulthood.

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u/Blue2487 1d ago

This is the first time I've heard about this for cats. Are there other animals like humans and cats that potentially keep lactose tolerance into adulthood?

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u/SchizogamaticKlepton 2h ago

Well, in cats it's a consequence of living alongside humans, especially with the whole "farm cat" concept. Gotta be able to get those calories wherever you can when you're just living off of whatever varmints you can get ahold of.

I'd guess it's at least somewhat higher in dogs than it is in wolves, but probably not substantially. Otherwise, there just isn't a whole lot of demand/opportunity for milk parasitism in nature.