Is cannibalism practiced among all carnivore and/or omnivore species? Does cannibalism have a negative impact

Question

on any of the species who do this?

If it (cannibalism) isn't practiced by all carnivores and omnivores, is there a reliable source where I can access a list of species who do practice it?

Thanks. ☺

Answer 1

There are many things that can kill you or make you sick which can only (or only easily) be passed from your own kind. So there are actually very few creatures which are cannibalistic in the sense that they consider their own kind to be acceptable as food (komodo dragons come to mind).

Most others eat their own for a purpose. Many will eat their own young but there is slight chance of catching something new from that. The benefit is in keeping the group small, and in replenishing what is invested during pregnancy.

Amoung humans its often only practiced as a ritual. An enemy, or a member of the tribe as part of the burial. As far as I know there was never any animal or human tribe which tried to live off of a diet of mostly its own kind. Besides being hard to picture it working number wise, its also rouigh on the disease side.

Answer 2

cannibalism very much has a negative impact, particulary on the poor guy being eaten.

Answer 3

Here's a site that has some info:
http://ladywildlife.com/animal/cannibalisminanimals.html

It has a background that makes it hard to read so you may want to copy and paste to a word doc so you can read it without going blind.

Answer 4

Eating the dead is a huge vector for disease. Typically only carrion regularly eat the dead.