Cannibalism summary

Now you know that the risk of cannibalism increases with hunger and a lack of access to alternative forms of nutrition. But there’s more to it than that.

In 1980, the ecologist Gary Polis made some more general observations on the nature of cannibalism. Based on his work, scientists have since found an evolutionary explanation.

What do a lack of access to alternative sources of nutrition and overcrowding have in common? They’re both examples of stressful environmental conditions that are prone to producing cannibalistic behavior.

Look at chickens: these birds are packed by the thousands into cramped poultry farms. The crowded, inadequate and stressful conditions prevalent in such spaces often cause them to misdirect their foraging and pecking behavior into attacking their neighbors.

By now you know a lot about how cannibalism plays out in other species, but what about humans like the Fore?

Well, while most modern people consider eating other humans to be grotesque, lots of cannibals beg to differ. Just take Armin Meiwes, who, in 2001, killed and ate Bernd Brandes, a 42-year-old computer technician who asked to be eaten.

The first generally accessible scholarly text on cannibalism was published in 1975 by the British historian, Reay Tannahill. Called Flesh and Blood, this work theorized that the Judeo-Christian belief that the dead needed a complete body in order to be resurrected is at the heart of the cannibalism taboo.

However, there’s more to the human distaste for cannibalism than religion. There’s also a cultural process by which people distinguish between “insiders” and “outsiders” – a distinction often based on diet.

Alright, so Western culture has a long history of considering cannibalism taboo. But where did such proscriptions come from?

Well, the father of modern psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, said that the rules associated with taboos were produced to prevent people from regressing into the violent, animalistic urges of the past.