Top 5 Cannibalistic Animals
- 8 years ago
Top 5 Cannibalistic Animals
5. Australian Redback Spiders
Some insects and arachnids practice sexual cannibalism. Australian redback spiders get both acrobatic and deliciously spiteful about it. The male redback will sacrifice itself to the female by somersaulting onto her mouthparts during sex and can transfer sperm while being consumed. A study showed that males that are cannibalized produce twice the number of offspring than those that are not.
4. Octopuses
Octopuses have been known to eat other members of their species. Females will sometimes envelop and suffocate males after having had sex with them. What is most interesting about octopuses though, is their tendency to indulge in self-cannibalism as a result of stress, chopping away at their own tentacles...
3. Polar Bears
As the area of sea ice that polar bears can use for hunting declines more and more in the summers, progressively fewer seals are accessible to the bears. Therefore the bears' hunting success likely declines as well. Thus, at this time of year, young polar bears may represent a possible food source for adult males. A sad, direct effect of global warming...
2. Prairie Dog
They are the cutest infanticidal cannibalistic serial murderers you will ever see. When doing research, a team of reseachers found decapitated babies that had mostly been cannibalized in the prairie dog's burrows. A result of extreme competition that causes prairie dogs to kill the offspring of close relatives because doing so, increases the chance that their own babies make it... Meerkats have been known to do the same.
1. Sand Tiger Shark
Sand tiger sharks become cannibalistic killers before they are even born. The year-long pregnancy of a female sand tiger shark may begin with six or seven embryos in her two wombs, but only one per womb will make it to birth. The first to break out of its egg capsule will start feasting on its siblings. When this baby shark finishes off its brothers and sisters, it will start on unfertilized eggs that have entered the womb...
5. Australian Redback Spiders
Some insects and arachnids practice sexual cannibalism. Australian redback spiders get both acrobatic and deliciously spiteful about it. The male redback will sacrifice itself to the female by somersaulting onto her mouthparts during sex and can transfer sperm while being consumed. A study showed that males that are cannibalized produce twice the number of offspring than those that are not.
4. Octopuses
Octopuses have been known to eat other members of their species. Females will sometimes envelop and suffocate males after having had sex with them. What is most interesting about octopuses though, is their tendency to indulge in self-cannibalism as a result of stress, chopping away at their own tentacles...
3. Polar Bears
As the area of sea ice that polar bears can use for hunting declines more and more in the summers, progressively fewer seals are accessible to the bears. Therefore the bears' hunting success likely declines as well. Thus, at this time of year, young polar bears may represent a possible food source for adult males. A sad, direct effect of global warming...
2. Prairie Dog
They are the cutest infanticidal cannibalistic serial murderers you will ever see. When doing research, a team of reseachers found decapitated babies that had mostly been cannibalized in the prairie dog's burrows. A result of extreme competition that causes prairie dogs to kill the offspring of close relatives because doing so, increases the chance that their own babies make it... Meerkats have been known to do the same.
1. Sand Tiger Shark
Sand tiger sharks become cannibalistic killers before they are even born. The year-long pregnancy of a female sand tiger shark may begin with six or seven embryos in her two wombs, but only one per womb will make it to birth. The first to break out of its egg capsule will start feasting on its siblings. When this baby shark finishes off its brothers and sisters, it will start on unfertilized eggs that have entered the womb...