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1) Immature animals get eaten more often than adults; 2) Many animals, particularly invertebrates, do not recognize individuals of their own kind, especially eggs and immature stages, which are simply regarded as a food source; 3) Females are more often cannibalistic than males; 4) Cannibalism increases with hunger and a concurrent decrease in alternative forms of nutrition; and 5) Cannibalism is often directly related to the degree of overcrowding in a given population.
phenotypic plasticity: When changing environmental conditions allow multiple phenotypes (observable characteristics or traits) to arise from a single genotype (the genetic makeup of an organism).
Although the genetic potential for body armor is always there (in the Daphnia’s genotype), it doesn’t exhibit itself until a specific environmental change occurs,
trigger substance turns out to be thyroxin,
“There’s something about bumping into each other that triggers the production of the cannibals.”
enables individuals of some species to accelerate their developmental process, thus allowing them to quickly outgrow a stage in which they might be preyed upon or perish due to unpredictable environmental conditions.
conspecifics (i.e., members of the same species).
most significant of these is a heightened chance of acquiring harmful parasites or diseases from a conspecific.
inclusive fitness
novel traits originating as examples of phenotypic plasticity have the potential to produce separate species.
vertebrates and even inverts like termites), the digestive tract cannot digest cellulose,
After their first molt and after the trophic eggs have been consumed, black lace-weaver spiderlings are too large for their mother to care for, though they are in dire need of additional food. In an extreme act of parental care, she calls the babies to her by drumming on their web and presses her body down into the gathering crowd. The ravenous spiderlings swarm over their mother’s body. Then they eat her alive, draining her bodily fluids and leaving behind a husklike
The reason for this butchery appears to be the elimination of any and all potential predators before the larva enters the helpless pupal stage itself.
Cannibalism occurs in every class of vertebrates, from fish to mammals.
filial cannibalism (eating one’s own offspring) and heterocannibalism (eating unrelated conspecifics),
so a full-grown cod might be a million times (or six orders of magnitude) larger than its own eggs. This fact goes a long way to explain
20 percent of its original number, many mouthbrooders will write off the entire batch, and eat them all.
Ultimately, only two pups remain, one in each oviduct.
To eliminate this advantage, the birds will keep eating each other’s eggs until they both lay their eggs on the same day, a process that can take weeks.
The Arawaks] are fitted to be ruled and to be set to work, to cultivate the land and do all else that may be necessary.”
warrior women. These fighting females were reportedly “fierce to the last degree, strong as tigers, courageous in fight, brutal and merciless.”
“why God Our Lord has concealed the gold from us.” There is no record of a response but Columbus soon refocused his efforts toward the collection of a resource that was available in great supply—humans.
“Resistance” and “cannibalism” became synonymous,
Stannard believes that by the end of the 16th century, the Spanish had been directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of between 60 and 80 million indigenous people in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. Even if one were to discount the millions of deaths resulting from diseases, this would still make the Spanish conquest of the New World the greatest act of genocide in recorded history.
of the starving Japanese. The lucky man’s name was Lt. George H. W. Bush.
“Take it and eat,” he said, “this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he handed it to them saying, “Drink from this, all of you, for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” — Matthew 26:26–28
Atahualpa said he bowed to no man and told the Spanish exactly what he thought of their religion. His people, he said, only sacrificed their enemies to their gods and certainly did not eat people. The Spanish, on the other hand, killed their own God, drank his blood and baked his body into little biscuits which they sacrificed to themselves. He found the entire practice unspeakable. The Spanish were outraged and had Atahualpa publicly executed.
During the first phase, the activity of the group increases, as do “positive reciprocities.”
The second phase occurs as the physiological effects of starvation begin to exhibit themselves. During this time, energy is conserved and the group becomes partitioned, usually along family lines.
The third or terminal phase of starvation is often characterized by a complete collapse of anything resembling social order. Efforts
“In the worst period of the siege,” a survivor noted, “Leningrad was in the power of the cannibals.”
2,000 Leningraders had been arrested for cannibalism during the siege
was a procedure that had become known to seafarers as “the custom of the sea,” a measure that provided (at least in theory) some rules for officers and their men should they find themselves cast adrift on the open ocean.
In an appropriately downbeat end to the story, the reprieved man reportedly never recovered his hearing or his sanity.
On the not-so-surprising front was the fact that children between 1 and 5 years of age and older people (above the age of 49), experienced high mortality rates (62.5 percent and 100 percent, respectively), primarily because both groups are more susceptible to hypothermia. What I found fascinating was that 53.1 percent of males (a total of 25) perished while only 29.4 percent of females died (10). Additionally,
that all 11 Donner Party bachelors (over 18 years of age) who became trapped in the Sierras died, while only 4 of the 8 married men,
Females metabolize protein more slowly than males (i.e., they don’t burn up their nutrients as quickly as males); 2) Female daily caloric requirements are less (i.e., they don’t need as much food as men); and 3) Females have greater fat reserves
much of this fat is located just below the skin (i.e., subcutaneous), where it functions as a layer of insulation,
men did most of the hard physical labor associated with a journey by wagon train, and that ultimately translated to serious health problems
The bachelors had higher levels of cortisol than did married men subjected to the same levels of stress. Thus
Although the conditions may have been unnatural, the actions that resulted were not.
“These are matters of settled custom,” he wrote, before paraphrasing the lyric poet Pindar, “And custom is King of all.”
Thyestian Feast as one at which human flesh is served.
fairy tales can be seen as literary relics from a time when terror was an accepted educational tool.
Hmm
“Defoe’s work is an effective contribution to the black legend of the Cannibals. It represents the normal English attitude towards them throughout the ages of discovery and colonization.”
There is a general agreement among recent scholars that China has a long history of cannibalism.
The greatest number of cannibalism-related deaths in China came as a direct result of Mao Zedong’s “The Great Leap Forward”
Mao instructed that they be “close planted,”
Feasts of human flesh, at which people celebrated by drinking and gambling, were a common sight.
extreme act of cannibalism-related self-sacrifice, with relatives providing parts of their own bodies for the consumption and benefit of their elders.
