Can wraith feed on animals?

[ph30nix]

Umm, actually, the Wraith should be able to feed on and be sustained by animals in general. A cow, biologically speaking, should provide a Wraith more "life force" than a human being. The Wraith feeding was never portrayed as anything other than a biological process, thus it makes no sense to tie it to "human essence" and so forth. IMO, this is just another SGA goof. Just like the Wraith beating the Ancients.

amen i love atlantis i realy do, but they screwed the pooch on so many plot elements i just ignore them though and watch the show lol

but until they say exactly what happens int he feeding process (which they never will cause it will just create plot holes no matter what way they go) its open to opinion, i carry the theory that it has something to do with mitochondria

but that would mena they could feed on animals they just choose not too

[Aeyame]

We're probably just tastier. Like if we were to be able successfully sustain ourselves on cake we probably would, and if we at cake our whole lives something like coffee would be the most vile and disgusting thing ever.

[ciannwn]

We're probably just tastier. Like if we were to be able successfully sustain ourselves on cake we probably would, and if we at cake our whole lives something like coffee would be the most vile and disgusting thing ever.

If you were dying of thirst, though, a cup of coffee would be very welcome.

Being fussy about food when there's plenty of it is one thing. Fighting over a dwindling supply of favourite snacks is another. Michael's attempt to taint the food supply with the Hoffian drug and the Asuran's trying to eliminate humans wouldn't make much sense if Wraith could just turn to animals for their meals.

[chocolate_muffin]

Being fussy about food when there's plenty of it is one thing. Fighting over a dwindling supply of favourite snacks is another. Michael's attempt to taint the food supply with the Hoffian drug and the Asuran's trying to eliminate humans wouldn't make much sense if Wraith could just turn to animals for their meals.

I agree. Why waste so much time and resources if they could just shrug it off and go bother some (other) animals? It wouldn't serve the purpose of ridding the galaxy of the Wraith. It would have merely moved them to greener pastures. I doubt they would have ended up in an all-out civil war because someone got the tastier snacks.

[Aeyame]

That's a good point. It's probably something else. I think the iratus bug can feed on animals, so maybe it's because of all the human dna is in the wraiths. Cause we know the iratus bug takes in the genetic material, but what if animals aren't compatible with wraith anymore.

[ablevins425]

I'm guessing that the iratus bug can feed on a variety of living creatures, but that the wraith, which evolved from iratus bug feeding on humans, need to continue feeding specifically on humans.

That makes sense to me. Good response.

[DragonLadyK]

Well, Stargate and mythology have always worked together, and the Bible -- considered by acedamia to be part of human mythology and so I'll use it in that context for the sake of this post -- says in Genesis 3:4 that "Only flesh with its soul - its blood - you must not eat," implying that the soul is contained in the blood. The original myth of the vampires was of a creature who consumed blood to survive and, by extension, the soul. Being soulless themselves, holy objects and consecrated ground were forbidden to them. The Wraith are an extension of that vampire myth. Therefore, it makes sense they wouldn't be able to feed on animals since animals aren't considered to have the same immortal souls as humans do in Western mythologies.

DragonLady

[Aeyame]

Well, Stargate and mythology have always worked together, and the Bible -- considered by acedamia to be part of human mythology and so I'll use it in that context for the sake of this post -- says in Genesis 3:4 that "Only flesh with its soul - its blood - you must not eat," implying that the soul is contained in the blood. The original myth of the vampires was of a creature who consumed blood to survive and, by extension, the soul. Being soulless themselves, holy objects and consecrated ground were forbidden to them. The Wraith are an extension of that vampire myth. Therefore, it makes sense they wouldn't be able to feed on animals since animals aren't considered to have the same immortal souls as humans do in Western mythologies.

DragonLady

I don't think they're an extension of the vampire myth. I think they're extensions of the Wraith myth. Wraiths are black cloaked figures that steal your life force by touching you.

[dasNdanger]

Recent question on Joe Mallozzi's blog:

Halo Luver writes: “1. Are Wraith capable of drawing nourishment from other rational creatures besides humans? Perhaps Asgard or Goua’ld symbiotes?

JM: 1. Although a wraith is able to derive some nourishment from other creatures (like, say, an Asgard), in the long run it will need to feed on humans to ensure its survival.

So - the bottom line is this: a Wraiths need to feed on humans to ensure its survival. Unless something changes, that's how it stands right now...so animals certainly could not sustain them if an Asgard can't.

das

[dasNdanger]

I don't think they're an extension of the vampire myth. I think they're extensions of the Wraith myth. Wraiths are black cloaked figures that steal your life force by touching you.

The Wraith are almost more like the albino Elric of Melniboné who, through his soul-feeding sword, Stormbringer, gained strength and health and fighting abilities. I think SGA's Wraith are a composite of Elric, mythical wraith, and vampires, with a little hornet thrown in for good measure.



das

[Infinite-Possibilities]

It might be that the Wraith can get minimal sustience from other humanoid species but since they evolved from humans they aren't genetically comptiable with other too different species as food.

[spinny magee]

Maybe because humans have a longer life then animals so theres a bigger feast for them.

[jnadreth]

Wraith would get their best meal from a Time Lord due to their extreme longevity-Animals would provide very little