cannibalism

Purpose and description

Let an agent explain cannibalism non-graphically, relay animal ecology, archaeological evidence, anthropological and historical cases and ethical and legal context from biological, anthropological and historical sources with contested claims attributed, describe the named forms, and distinguish cannibalism from predation, necrophagy by other species, ritual symbolism and fictional depictions, without sensational detail.

The act of an organism eating all or part of another individual of the same species, widespread in animals, including forms the registry aliases name such as sexual cannibalism in spiders and mantises, adelphophagy, where embryos eat siblings in the womb as in sand tiger sharks, and worm bagging, where nematode larvae hatch inside and consume the parent; in humans, cannibalism has occurred in survival situations, in some funerary practices such as endocannibalism among the Fore of Papua New Guinea, linked to the spread of kuru, and possibly in prehistory, as archaeologists interpret cut-marked Homo antecessor bones from Gran Dolina in Spain. Historical accusations of cannibalism were also used to dehumanise peoples and justify colonial violence, and scholars debate many reports, so claims are attributed. It is described here non-graphically, and acts involving human remains are crimes in most jurisdictions.

What it is for: Not applicable; a behaviour studied in biology and anthropology.

It can be explain animal cannibalism; relay archaeological and anthropological evidence; describe named forms; present contested historical claims with attribution.

Distinguishing features

Same-species consumption

Common in animals

Rare and contested in humans

Used as a dehumanising accusation

What it looks like

Not described graphically; observed in animal behaviour studies and inferred from archaeological remains.

Physical character

Gran Dolina TD6 remains: about 800,000 years ago note - interpretation attributed

kuru and Fore funerary practices: studied from the 1950s note - Nobel 1976 to Gajdusek

registry parents: feeding behaviour, predation note

How it is recognised

Eating members of the same species

Worm bagging, cannibalism in animals, adelphophagy, spider cannibalism, Homo antecessor cannibalism, endocannibalism

Predation targets other species; necrophagy is eating carrion; ritual symbolism may not involve eating; fiction depicts imagined acts

Related models

is a kind of - in registry terms

includes -

is linked to - Fore funerary practices

is contrasted with -

In practice

Families and kinds

sexual cannibalism

filial and sibling cannibalism

survival cannibalism

funerary endocannibalism

prehistoric cannibalism

Standards and regulation

Laws on treatment of human remains

Ethics of research with Indigenous communities

Failure modes and hazards

Graphic or sensational content

Repeating colonial stereotypes as fact

Prion disease risk from consuming human tissue

Also called

Where this came from

wikidata · CC0 1.0