Concept in Definition ABC

The origin of the word cannibal must be understood in the context of the Discovery of America. The Spaniards who arrived on the American shores were surprised to see that some indigenous peoples had the habit of feeding on human flesh obtained after some sacred rituals in which victims were offered to the gods. The Spanish heard that this practice was called by the natives with the word cannibal and already in the first chronicles of his travels they commented on the strange and shocking custom of eating meat human.

Cannibalism is, therefore, the act by which a living being eats meat from another individual of the same species. This practice is applicable to both animals and humans.

In the animal world

In the animal kingdom, cannibalism occurs in all kinds of species. The female praying mantis eats the male after mating. The Komodo dragon eats members of its species that are sick. Hamsters sometimes feed on their own young and the same thing happens with spiders, seals, crocodiles or scorpions. In all cases it is a

strategy from survival. Some species practice cannibalism due to the lack of food, as has happened lately with polar bears as a consequence of the climate change.

Among humans

Cannibalism is linked to murder and therefore is a custom contrary to the legal, moral and religious codes of all civilizations. Exceptionally, it has occurred in some American cultures during the pre-Columbian period, in West Africa or in Papua New Guinea. As a general guideline, cannibalism is along with incest one of the ingrained mar taboos among humans.

There is no single pattern that explains this conduct. It can manifest itself in relation to funeral rituals, as happens with the Yanomami of the Amazon. In most cases, it occurs in connection with offerings in which human sacrifices were offered accompanied by the ingestion of human flesh, as evidenced in the chronicles of the Spanish colonizers in relation to the Mayan culture or Aztec.

Also, there have been cases of cannibalism in those situations in which there has been a need extreme (one of the most famous episodes is known as the "miracle of the Andes" in 1972, when a airplane crashed in the Andes mountain range and the survivors had to eat human flesh from the victims to survive).

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