Cannibalism

Abstract: Cannibalism, defined as intraspecific predation, is a behavioral trait found in a wide variety of animals, although most references to this behavior are anecdotal or based on casual laboratory observations, The role of cannibalism in the dynamics of natural populations has been largely neglected; the most elegant and detailed analy­ ses of the population consequences of cannibalism are still provided by laboratory studies of flour beetles (Tribolium) that describe the process, examine its interac­ tions with other population processes, and attempt to derive generalities about its effects (60, 78, 88), Therefore, some authors have suggested that cannibalism is an artifact of laboratory systems (20, p, 324) or that it occurs only in cases of severe stress, especially when alternatives, such as dispersal, are not possible (I05), My purpose in this review is to show that cannibalism is a normal phenomenon in many natural populations, to evaluate its possible roles in influencing demo­ graphic structure and population processes, and to suggest conditions for, and constraints on, its occurrence, Cannibalism may be an interaction that reduces population size before acute resource shortage causes severe physiological stress, and in this sense its effects may be analogous to those of spacing behavior or dominance hierarchies in some social animals (104), I also discuss cannibalism as a limiting case of predator-prey interactions among potential competitors, This review is based mainly on field experiments and direct estimates of rates of cannibalism, but I use papers describing laboratory experiments to supplement the discussion of behavioral triggers and genetic components and to fill gaps in the field evidence, I have excluded numerous references with only casual mention of canni­ balistic events,

Abstract: M. Elgar & B. Crespi: Ecology and evolution of cannibalism G. Dong & G. Polis: Dynamics of cannibalistic populations C. Sargent: Ecology of filial cannibalism in fishes D. Haig: Brood reduction in gymnosperms D. Waddell: Cannibalism in lower eukaryotes B. Baur: Cannibalism in gastropods M. Elgar: Sexual cannibalism in spiders and other invertebrates L. Stevens: Cannibalism in beetles B. Crespi: Cannibalism and trophic eggs in subsocial and eusocial insects P. Kukuk: Cannibalism in social bees C. Fitzgerald & F. Whoriskey: Empirical studies of cannibalism in fish M. Crump: Cannibalism in amphibians M. Stanback & W. Koenig: Cannibalism in birds R. Elwood: Pup cannibalism in rodents M. Hiraiwa-Hasegawa: Cannibalism among non-human primates.

Abstract: Cannibalism is one of the oldest and most emotionally charged topics in anthropological literature. This analysis of human bones from an Anasazi pueblo in southwestern Colorado, site 5MTUMR-2346, reveals that nearly 30 men, women and children were butchered and cooked there around 1100 AD. Their bones were fractured for marrow, and the remains discarded in several rooms of the pueblo. By comparing the human skeletal remains with those of animals used for food at other sites, the author analyzes evidence for skinning, dismembering, cooking and fracturing to infer that cannibalism took place at Mancos. As White evaluates claims for cannibalism in ethnographic and archaeological contexts worldwide, he describes how cultural biases can often distort the interpretation of scientific data. This book applies and introduces anatomical, taphonomic, zooarchaeological and forensic methods in the investigation of prehistoric human behaviour.