Cannibalism by Nick Singidas

Cannibalism

nps101_ — 2023-11-13 22:20:18 UTC

The act of killing and consuming a conspecific in part or as a whole

How is cannibalism beneficial in nature?

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How has cannibalism impacted human history?

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Why is cannibalism a social taboo?

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Filial Cannibalism

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Cannibalism of offspring

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.09.068

Intrauterine Cannibalism

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Eating of siblings

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.09.068

Sexual Cannibalism

nps101_ — 2023-11-13 23:08:53 UTC

Eating of sexual mates

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.09.068

Infacticide

nps101_ — 2023-11-13 23:12:08 UTC

Killing of offspring; Useful for mothers in situations of partial or complete habitat destruction to eat their own offspring

Nematodes

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If resources are limited, nematodes have been known to come out of their eggs in the womb and eat their mothers from the inside out.

Sand Tiger Sharks

nps101_ — 2023-11-13 23:16:39 UTC

In the mother's womb, sand tiger sharks cannibalize each other to determine who is born.

Tadpoles

nps101_ — 2023-11-13 23:17:40 UTC

Some tadpoles undergo morphological transformations after consuming conspecific tissue, exchanging their filter-feeding mouth parts for a keratinized beak and a modified digestive system

Frogs

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Parents may feed the younger sibling(s) of their offspring to the older ones in times of limited resource

Praying Mantis

nps101_ — 2023-11-13 23:21:25 UTC

Male praying mantis brains have been speculated to inhibit sexual arousal and therefore release of sperm, so in order to increase sperm yield females eat the heads of the male mantis.

Schutt, Bill. Cannibalism : A Perfectly Natural History.

Energy Preservation

nps101_ — 2023-11-13 23:23:15 UTC

In some anisogamous species, they invest mass amounts of energy into the production of the gametes, so in times of limited resources, the female eats their sexual partner to ensure the survival of both herself and the offspring

Medicinal Cannibalism

nps101_ — 2023-11-13 23:26:43 UTC

In the 16th and 17th centuries, cannibalism was prescribed medicinally as a form of treatment

https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/article/view/456/498

Increases execution rate

nps101_ — 2023-11-13 23:29:04 UTC

To compensate for the high demand for body parts to be used medicinally, execution rates increased to provide criminal body parts.

Organ Trafficking

nps101_ — 2023-11-13 23:30:40 UTC

The popularization of medicinal cannibalism may have increased organ trafficking occurrences as it is used for cannibalistic reasons besides the typical transplant reasons

Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease

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Diseased commonly caused by the consumption of cannibalized meats that deteriorates the brain, akin to Mad-Cow disease

https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/creutzfeldt-jakob-disease#:~:text=Creutzfeldt-Jakob%20disease%20(CJD),Severe%20mental%20deterioration%20and%20dementia

Cannibal Island

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Cannibalism helps limit disease

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Termites

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Termite workers will eat diseased termites to prevent spread of said disease

Leaf-Roller Caterpillars

nps101_ — 2023-11-13 23:42:53 UTC

Although normally herbivores, they cannibalize each other if it is detected that one of them is infected with a parasite

Cultural Differences?

nps101_ — 2023-11-13 23:53:54 UTC

Cultural differences throughout history can alter the view of cannibalism, however for most cultures, cannibalism is condemned and depicted as "evil".

Greek Mythology

nps101_ — 2023-11-13 23:57:17 UTC

In Greek mythology, Kronos was known to eat his children which resulted in him being killed by Zeus, negatively depicting cannibalism

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea1993

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures

nps101_ — 2023-11-13 23:58:13 UTC

There are numerous stories of sacred ancestor beings that practiced cannibalism and invariably suffered for the practice, either by death or by being excluded from humanity.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea1993

Christianity

nps101_ — 2023-11-14 00:07:17 UTC

"Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds."

King James, Ezekiel 5:10

This passage of the Bible directly outlines that God will punish you if cannibalism is committed.

What are the human appeals to cannibalism today?

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https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/article/view/456/498

Papa New Guinea and the Korowai Tribe

nps101_ — 2023-11-14 00:15:13 UTC

Tribes from Papa New Guinea and the Korowai Tribe notoriously have been known to cannibalize as a social and cultural ritual

Health reasons?

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Eating Placenta

nps101_ — 2023-11-14 00:20:54 UTC

It has been theorized that eating placenta has beneficial effects for mothers due to its role in acquired passive immunity from mother to offspring. However, studies would suggest that it is not the case.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7765311/

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Mathematical models

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Mathematical models have been made to represent how cannibalism can actually be used to limit disease spread

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/692734

Horizontally Transmitted Diseases

nps101_ — 2023-11-14 00:38:51 UTC

Although it is the common consensus that cannibalism can limit disease spread, there have been some studies done that contrast it with the addendum that populations that have more complex modes of spread can result in cannibalism increasing disease spread. The topic is very heavily debated on.

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/15-0884.1

Kuru Immunity Genetics

nps101_ — 2023-11-14 00:43:34 UTC

A single replacement mutation on the M19V gene and heterozygous individuals for methionine/valine in codon 129 on the PNRP gene have been shown to have partial to full immunity to Kuru disease, a neurodegenerative disease that is associated with cannibalism.

Psychology and Neuroscience

nps101_ — 2023-11-14 00:46:34 UTC

Cannibalism can be associated with the same addictive euphoria as drugs. It can begin as a fetish or fantasy until they have it for the first time which creates an immediate dopamine boost which creates addiction for the act.

Romanticization of Cannibal Serial Killers

nps101_ — 2023-11-14 00:49:06 UTC

Fictional cannibals like Hannibal Lecter as well as real cannibals like Jeffery Dahmer are popularized and romanticized in the media which creates appeal for cannibalism in audiences.

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Cronus eating kid

ISIS

nps101_ — 2023-11-14 01:33:00 UTC

During high political tensions, ISIS decreed that organ harvesting and cannibalization was allowed for Muslims in need under Fatwa 68

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nancy-Scheper-Hughes/publication/314405563_Neo-Cannibalism_and_ISIS_Organs_and_Tissue_Trafficking_During_Times_of_Political_Conflict_and_War/links/599703e8458515df2a258423/Neo-Cannibalism-and-ISIS-Organs-and-Tissue-Trafficking-During-Times-of-Political-Conflict-and-War.pdf

Chickens

nps101_ — 2023-11-21 01:45:29 UTC

Chickens (albeit more often within domestic chickens in an industrial setting for eggs) are known to be omnivorous and resort to cannibalism if provoked

https://extensionpublications.unl.edu/assets/html/g1670/build/g1670.htm