Yes they are. A couple decades ago there was a scandal about “mad cow disease” because of British beef fed with meat-and-bone-meal (MBM) that was not heated sufficiently to destroy any prion that might have been in there. So the unwittingly carnivorous cows got prions, and were then slaughtered for their prion-infested meat that got sold to people.
I have a question about that last rule. Sarnothi are *not* human. They are predators. Have they adapted to cooked food? Are they vulnerable to prions? It’s valid as it sets up a fundamental difference in biology…
Everything is vulnerable to prions, or other food-borne diseases. Animals in nature get sick all the time, we just don’t consider it a very big deal when they do, whereas we do consider it a big deal when people get sick.
That said, I somehow doubt they’re in the habit of cooking their food underwater.
Prion diseases are terrifying but preventable, and is why all hunted meat should be tested prior to consumption.
Prions are proteins in your body, the ones in question are in your brain, marrow, and spinal cord.
when a prion is cannibalized, the digestive process, damages how the protein folds, for some reason, this damage is contagious, if the Damaged Prion gets too close to another similar protein it causes that protein to fold into a prion as well.
infection causes prion diseases, the most obvious being Spongiform of the brain, Madcow, Zombie, Sleeping sickness, Deer Wasting, Wendigos. that is why you should never eat the Brain, Spinal cord, or Marrow from the bones, especially never from a sick animal, or animal that was acting weird when you were hunting it.
even after decomposition the prions can stick around in the soil, and contaminate water, and food sources.
in Mammals at the very least, this is why you should not eat species that are too similar to yours, Humans, Chimps, Apes, Monkeys, the biology is too similar.
Deer, Wolves, moose, elk, and other wild animals will sometimes cannibalize a freshly dead animal, usually during winter when food is scarce.
In domesticated animals, such as in the case of Mad cow disease, it has been caused by negligent farmers, agriculture companies, recycling animals byproducts, feeding cow based bone meal [Marrow] back to the cows as a calcium supplement mixed in with their feed.
or letting cows chew on Cow leather that has been tanned with the Brain tanning method.
https://www.cdc.gov/mad-cow/php/animal-health/index.html
“Strong evidence exists that consuming meat from BSE-infected cows causes variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in people.
vCJD cases began in the U.K. about 10 years after BSE-contaminated beef likely made its way for an extended period into food produced for people. This is consistent with the time between when someone is exposed to a prion disease and when they develop one themselves.
As BSE has been largely eradicated, it is not thought to pose much risk to people currently. ”
apparently there is a 10 year latency period on developing the disease in humans
Many fish will also cannibalize their own species, or similar species
as well will rodents, like squirrels, rats,and Mice,
and some Birds that eat meat, such as gulls, corvids, birds of prey, and vultures
some birds will actually peck out the brains of other birds to eat them.
how susceptible smaller animals are to Prion diseases is not known as they frequently become prey for larger animals, especially when they start to act weird, and/or get sick.
[archive really needs to be divided into Arcs or scenes]
In before Selkie runs up on a deer or moose and ends up unaliving it without a license.
If she kills a moose with her bare hands, she deserves the meat.
Don’t keel moose and squirrel, dollink.
are you the one who draws the comic your name is linked to? it’s really good!
I love this one! It really gives a feel for how far they’ve come since the beginning of the comic.
I went down a rabbit hole for prions and they’re horrifying.
Yes they are. A couple decades ago there was a scandal about “mad cow disease” because of British beef fed with meat-and-bone-meal (MBM) that was not heated sufficiently to destroy any prion that might have been in there. So the unwittingly carnivorous cows got prions, and were then slaughtered for their prion-infested meat that got sold to people.
I have a question about that last rule. Sarnothi are *not* human. They are predators. Have they adapted to cooked food? Are they vulnerable to prions? It’s valid as it sets up a fundamental difference in biology…
yeah, i have the same question.
could just be “in case”?
Everything is vulnerable to prions, or other food-borne diseases. Animals in nature get sick all the time, we just don’t consider it a very big deal when they do, whereas we do consider it a big deal when people get sick.
That said, I somehow doubt they’re in the habit of cooking their food underwater.
They do! with hydrothermal vents or something. Remember Booyahr, the cooked eel strips?
they do cook their food underwater, check out the colony scene!
they literally have Echo-tech based heated cooking units.
https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie964/
they also have cold boxes or fridges
https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie959/
Prion diseases are terrifying but preventable, and is why all hunted meat should be tested prior to consumption.
Prions are proteins in your body, the ones in question are in your brain, marrow, and spinal cord.
when a prion is cannibalized, the digestive process, damages how the protein folds, for some reason, this damage is contagious, if the Damaged Prion gets too close to another similar protein it causes that protein to fold into a prion as well.
infection causes prion diseases, the most obvious being Spongiform of the brain, Madcow, Zombie, Sleeping sickness, Deer Wasting, Wendigos. that is why you should never eat the Brain, Spinal cord, or Marrow from the bones, especially never from a sick animal, or animal that was acting weird when you were hunting it.
even after decomposition the prions can stick around in the soil, and contaminate water, and food sources.
in Mammals at the very least, this is why you should not eat species that are too similar to yours, Humans, Chimps, Apes, Monkeys, the biology is too similar.
Deer, Wolves, moose, elk, and other wild animals will sometimes cannibalize a freshly dead animal, usually during winter when food is scarce.
In domesticated animals, such as in the case of Mad cow disease, it has been caused by negligent farmers, agriculture companies, recycling animals byproducts, feeding cow based bone meal [Marrow] back to the cows as a calcium supplement mixed in with their feed.
or letting cows chew on Cow leather that has been tanned with the Brain tanning method.
https://www.cdc.gov/mad-cow/php/animal-health/index.html
“Strong evidence exists that consuming meat from BSE-infected cows causes variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in people.
vCJD cases began in the U.K. about 10 years after BSE-contaminated beef likely made its way for an extended period into food produced for people. This is consistent with the time between when someone is exposed to a prion disease and when they develop one themselves.
As BSE has been largely eradicated, it is not thought to pose much risk to people currently. ”
apparently there is a 10 year latency period on developing the disease in humans
Many fish will also cannibalize their own species, or similar species
as well will rodents, like squirrels, rats,and Mice,
and some Birds that eat meat, such as gulls, corvids, birds of prey, and vultures
some birds will actually peck out the brains of other birds to eat them.
how susceptible smaller animals are to Prion diseases is not known as they frequently become prey for larger animals, especially when they start to act weird, and/or get sick.
[archive really needs to be divided into Arcs or scenes]
I would think they are, given their ‘traditional’ diet is not mammalian in general (unless they hunt whales and dolphins in the wide ocean)