There was a time when the Catholic Church prohibited the consumption of mammal meat (either on Sundays or some other religious time) but did allow the consumption of fish meat so the conquistadors made the argument that since capybaras spend their time in water and since fish also spend their time in water therefore the capybara is a fish and therefore not a mammal which means they can eat capybara meat. Surprisingly the church accepted their argument and capybaras were allowed to be consumed.
by Kreanxx
7 Comments
If it swims, it’s a fish, case closed
Also the church – “it says in Latin Scrolls that beasts like hippos exist, a fish which has fur and is quite wide does not sound too far fetched I think”
So what you’re saying is that Jesus can turn bread into capybaras?
How do capybaras taste? The ban on mammal meat is supposed to be about the taste.
All mammals are fish, phylogenetically speaking.
To be fair, this was well before Darwin, so people didn’t have the understanding to categorize animals on the basis of cladistics like we do now. In that context, it’s a lot more understandable to categorize all water-dwelling animals as one group.
I believe this also happened with beavers in Canada