Sorry to bump this one up, but I found it interesting. The article below mentions some interesting stuff:

http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic223.htm

"Animal reservoirs of leprosy have been found in 3 species: 9-banded armadillos, chimpanzees, and mangabey monkeys."

"Causes: Leprosy is caused by M leprae, an acid-fast bacillus.
Only the lepromatous form is thought to be infectious.
Exposure to the nasal discharge of those that remain untreated for years is thought to be the main cause of infection.
Most persons are immune to leprosy. Subclinical disease is common in endemic areas, and the infection progresses to clinical disease in only a select few.
Transmission is not completely understood.
In addition to exposure respiratory secretions, exposure to insect vectors and infected soil has been suspected as a possible mode of transmission.
Household contacts of patients are at little risk of acquiring the disease."

A couple of other things I found in a infectious disease text is that it is the first organism to be recognized as a cause of human disease. Mouse footpad will grow the organism, but it has never been cultivated in vitro.

Used to play armadillo polo (swing your helmet from the jeep) but they sure were gamie, we never could get past the smell to eat any.

Armadillos have been used to research many human diseases, including leprosy, polio and now AIDS. They even can get the clap...

Rena

Absolutely amazing ThreadDrift. I start out thinking I'm reading about protein poisoning and end up reading about armadillos with the clap.

RE: Protein Poisoning. Take a look at what the late Dr. Atkins (LoCarb guru) says about Ketosis and Ketolosis. I wonder if, when eating too much lean meat in the wild, we are creating a problem with the RATIO rather than absolute amount of fat consumed. In any event, I think this for most of us will be a non-issue: In the most likely "lost" scenario we'd probably eat whatever we could choke down, and save being picky for the restaurant they take you to when rescued.

Wow, that thread drift is getting a bit high, isn't it? Sorry about that...

From what I have been able to gather from books in my library as well as online sources, it takes almost a month for most Amaricans to show any signs of malnutrition regardless of what type. We are so overfed most of the time that we actually need to be starved once in a while.

Not getting enough fat is difficult in civilization. Out in the wilds it could become one. Not only would you have a lack of vitamin A, but also the Ds, E and the Ks(the clotting vitamin). Without enough vitamin K, you can actually bleed to death if you have even a small internal injury or a deep skin/muscle wound.

On the other hand, megadoses can lead to major problems, too. They do not get easily washed out of the system and can lodge into fatty tissue or float about the blood until toxic levels are attained. This can lead to nausia, diarrea, hair loss and skin irritation/blistering - even kidney damage.

We are lucky that most American dairy products have extra A and D added - not only does it help to preserve the milk, it helps us.

Enough for now...

Rena

Isn't liver and other organ meats a good source of fat and vitamins? I know that polar bear liver is supposed to be toxic from all the vitamin A stored in it, but that aside, what about rabbit heart and liver?

I agree with you--it wouldn't be a short term problem anyway. I can't imagine you would be better off eating nothing to avoid "rabbit starvation". If the choice for me is rabbit or nothing, then it's going to be bye-bye Bunny.

Regards, Vince

Does anyone here know if there is a listing for plants high in vegetable oil content that could be used to supplement high protien diets, or isn't vegetable derived oil sufficient to prevent "rabbit starvation"?

Bountyhunter

Scrounge up some wild greens to go with that rabbit, and you won't have to worry about the "rabbit fever". Dandelions don't taste too good outside of early to late Spring, but they're a great source of MANY vitamins and minerals year round, and they don't have a poisonous look-alike, same thing with purslain. They're just a little hard to spot if you've got a foot of snow on the ground. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Troy

Well, as far as fatty foods in the vegitable kingdom go... Almost any nut or tuber will have an amount of lipids that would help to balance out the lean meats in smaller animals.

I happen to have a list on mu website... <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Rena