5 Cannibalistic Animals

   
 Cannibalism is the act of an individual species consuming another individual of the same species for food. A lot of people would look at cannibalism among animals in a horrible way; but it is actually very common in the ecological interaction. And a lot of you might assume that cannibalism happens among most carnivores, but it is actually more often among herbivores and detritivores.

This list won't be providing all animals with 'cannibalistic' behavior since there are up to 1, 500 documented animals eating their own species all over the world. Instead, this list will be compiling 5 animals with common and interesting cannibalism acts.

Please take note that this is not a 'ranking' but just a mere list. I will also be excluding 'sexual cannibalism'.

1.Cats

en.wikipedia.com

 Male cats eat the offspring to bring the female cat back to 'heat'.
Female cats rarely eat their litters but if it happens, it is of a perfectly reasonable explanation. Cannibalism usually occurs on the mother's 2nd pregnancy due to the mother prioritizing self-preservation. It might have been drained of significant resources from the 1st pregnancy . Sometimes, females eat the larger litters and leave the newborn with higher survival rate to live. They also occasionally consume the weak and sickly litters, justifying it with the reason of saving maternal investments.

2.Frogs

www.popsci.com

-A lot of studies and observations have been done that proves some of the frog species to be 'cannibalistic'. One of them is the African Bullfrog. They eat a lot of things including insects, small rodents, reptiles, small birds and other amphibians. Sometimes, they also eat the tadpoles that they're guarding.
Cannibalism of frogs mostly happens among the young-lings which are the tadpoles. Even though they consume their pond mates or siblings, they're not vile or ruthless creatures. They will only eat the other tadpoles when resources are scarce; so we can conclude that it's a 'survival nature' among the tadpoles.
- Researchers have stated that Biodiversity affects the appetite of frogs. Cannibalism is most likely to be found in a habitat full of frogs rather than a location with the lesser population.

3.Octopuses

www.zmescience.com

The cannibalism act of octopuses has only been recently discovered. They've been caught in the act for 3 times, providing enough evidence to prove it's cannibalistic behavior.
--> The first case was when a diver removed stones from the opening of a den to reveal a male octopus weighing 2kg, feasting on a dead octopus (0.5kg).
--> The second case was another diver witnessing a larger male octopus (2.2kg) carrying another octopus (roughly 0.54kg) in it's arms. It was stated that the victim was not yet dead due to the witness seeing it moving it's arms(tentacles) and trying to break free. Upon seeing the diver, the octopus immediately released the victim.
After all of this incident, it was confirmed that the octopuses eat other octopuses even WITH other meal options; which leans to non-survival related cannibalism.

Check out 'Top 10 Most Highly Intelligent Animals' !

4.Sand Tiger Sharks

www.fineartamerica.com

The Sand Tiger Sharks have been a famous subject in cannibalism due to the act of consuming the same species since they were embryos. Yes, embryos.
This type of cannibalism is called Intrauterine Cannibalism which means cannibalism within the uterus.
-There are two types of Intrauterine Cannibalism:
*Embryophagy/Adelphophagy (eating one's brother)
 The largest and strongest embryo consumes it's lesser womb-mates.

*Oophagy/Oviphagy (egg-eating)
-This type of Intrauterine Cannibalism is more common among Sand Tiger Sharks where developing embryos feed on a steady supply of tiny, unfertilized eggs.
Oophagy Cannibalism has been documented since 1907.

Check out 'The Most Dangerous Shark on Earth'

5.Polar Bears

assets.worldwildlife.org

Polar Bears are a new case in the cannibalism world since the worsening of global warming. Researchers have concluded that this behavior was resorted because of the difficulties in getting their main diet which are the seals. During Summer and Autumn, seals will usually move to a different location (further North) which is beyond the Polar Bears' reach. This scenario has lead the polar bear species to resort to cannibalism. A lot of cases have included big, male polar bears feeding on the small cubs.

 
Thanks for reading!