Cannibalism: horrendous, macabre and extremely unnatural. In the human realm, we assume only outliers, such as psychopaths and cults, engage in the practice. But until recently, we applied this same logic to animal species, and in the process, missed a crucial regular interaction of ecosystems around the world.
As I mentioned, cannibalism was thought to be unnatural, on all fronts. Strictly a scarce act in response to starvation or extreme stress, species such as the praying mantis and black widow were deemed bizarre exceptions. Now with the increase of our knowledge of animal behaviour with the aid of surveying technology and ability to study animals in the wild, we know understand that the praying mantis and black widow, more or less represent the norm.
Scientists have found cannibalism to be present in more than 1,500 species, including salamanders, fish species, and chimpanzees. These animals weren’t just eating their own kind for the fun of it or to feed murderous tendencies either. For reasons of upping ones chance of survival to pure social dominance, there seems to be a lot of excellent reasons why you would want to consume your own kind.
For instance, we can see cannibalistic behaviour in spadefoot toads. In the deserts of the American Southwest, spadefoot tadpoles are hatched in tiny oases. Because of the gruelling sun, these puddles of water won’t last long, so from birth these tadpoles are on a race against the clock to develop into toadlets to hop out of the water into the real world. To achieve this, the stronger and bigger tadpoles consume the smaller ones, and due to the extra nutrients, they develop faster and are able to beat the clock.
Cannibalism in the spadefoot toad’s case, as well as many others, promotes an increased chance of survival and further solidifies Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” theory. It can pit the same generation of species against one another (quite like hunger games) and allow the strongest and most experienced to breed a stronger next generation, even if a little interspecies snacking is involved.
Charles Darwin: survival of the fittest
Charles Darwin: *has 10 children*
Charles Darwin: ah well i guess some of them have to go… laws of nature amirite
Eating members of one’s own species as a normal part of its life cycle is not solely attributed to Spadefoot toads, not by the very least. Another species that participates in this tasty activity is Sand Tiger Sharks. Before the sharks are even born, a mother develops and hatches many sharks inside her two oviducts at different times. Once the yolk runs out from their own eggs hatchlings will eat one another for nutrients until one hatchling shark remains in each oviduct. Talk about tough sibling rivalry!
This type of parenting might seem extra harsh on the parent’s part, but ultimately the sharks that are left will emerge experienced and strong predators.
In some cases cannibalism among animal species is not out of necessity, but for convenience’s sake in the long run. Many bird species such as stork, gull, and woodpecker parents will eat their young if they are diseased or dead, before the body can attract maggots or flies into the nest.
Bird wife: Hey we should get a roomba
Bird husband: we don’t have the funds
Bird wife: what do I do with this dead body
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Bird wife: oh
Bird husband: yeah nevermind let’s get that roomba
This type of filial cannibalism is a common attribute in bank voles, house finches and wolf spiders. Interestingly, these species are also ones that take care of the young they don’t consume. So why these two conflicting behaviours?
Researchers have attributed this behaviour to again, the evolutionary gains in eating ones young. The eggs that hatch fast enough to escape their parent’s appetite grow into stronger individuals, and can weed out the ones that would take more of their parent’s energy and nutrients to develop.
Not only do parents sometimes eat their young, the opposite, matriphagy or “mother-eating” happens quite frequently in some insects, spiders, scorpions and nematode worms. In these cases, the mother will sacrifice herself to better increase the chance of survival among her children.
Caecilians are an example of matriphagy where the mother does not necessarily die, abnormal to other cases. Caecilians are limbless amphibians that look like giant worms, and in the true name of sacrifice, Caecilian mothers will feed their children with their own flesh, in the same way the young drink mother’s milk. Using their specialized teeth, Caecilian young peel off their mother’s skin in a continuous cycle of regeneration for up to 3 weeks. (9 out of 10 Caecilian dentists approve of this message!)
Cannibalism not only appears in species such as frogs, birds and insects but even intelligent and extremely social animals engage in cannibalistic behaviour. Although they do not participate in it regularly or as a crucial part of their life cycle, chimpanzees and other monkey species have been observed to cannibalize in cases having seemingly nothing to do with survival, but consequently everything to do with surviving: social pressure.
A famous case observed in 2013 saw the demise of a former leader of a chimpanzee social group, who was exiled from the clan and later came back, uninvited. The researchers were horrified to find the body of the former leader dead and chomped on.
So how does this relate to survival? In social animals such as chimps, monkeys and humans social pressure and survival go hand-in-hand. How we act socially and are perceived socially can worst-case-scenario lead to isolation, a less-than-ideal situation for our survival.
In chimpanzees, however, murderous tendencies and psychopathic behaviour can arise, like in humans. Jane Goodall first observed an abnormal phenomenon during her expeditions that recorded the discovery of very distinct personalities of individual chimpanzees. One outlier chimpanzee ironically named ‘Passion’, was discovered to be aggressive, disturbed and isolated; adjectives that would be used to describe a human psychopath. Passion was observed going on a cannibalistic murder spree, kidnapping and killing three baby chimpanzees, definitely not representing normal explainable behaviour.
In other cases, cannibalism after mating is a popular case of cannibalism. In insects in which this happens, like the popular cases of black widows and praying mantis, the male is often smaller than the female and in all cases, the male is the one being eaten. This practice is also prioritizes survival: in delivering future generations to the female, the male achieves his sole purpose, and therefore to further aid in the female’s chance of survival, the male provides an easy and achievable meal: himself.
Cannibalism among the animal kingdom may sound outrageous and a matter of horrific science-fiction, but evolution has ingrained cannibalism as a crucial part in these animals life cycles. For years, applying human standards onto animals has made blind to the simple facts of the world, but the truth is that cannibalism is extremely beneficial and without it many species would remain weak and unable to sustain itself.
So, next time you think an animal is attractive, don’t tell them they “look like a snacc”.
