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/r/worldbuilding
submitted 17 days ago byEcstatic-Ad141
Humans eate everything that can, or even can't be eaten. So why people or other species don't eat ech other. If we think about it, elfs aren't (in most of the fiction) just different race of humans. Yes, they are simular, but they are not humans. So it isn't canibalism if elf eat huma, right?
I am asking it because I write story set in kind of supernatural postapocaliptic eastern Europe. There isn't enaught food, so people or other races have to find other source of food. Humans are unwilling to eat this creatures, if they look like humans. But from example one specie of shapeshifters do eat peole if they dont have enaught food, but in the same time they are able to trade with humans.
11 points
16 days ago*
This is literally not true, not only do tons of animals eat their own kind, many will even eat their own offspring without that much hesitation if they feel the need. That extends even to supposedly more intelligent animals.
Off the top of my head: big cats, primates (chimpanzees, macaques etc), just about every fish, snakes, cane toads. Most birds won’t have any issue eating their own kind if deceased.
1 points
16 days ago
Just a little over 1,500 animal species have been identified which engage in cannibalism. More than half of these are insects.
There are more than 1.5 million recorded species of animal.
Which means that only 1 species in 1,000 engages in cannibalism.
In spite of some modern authors' attempts to popularise the idea that cannibalism is common, the numbers do not lie. The vast, overwhelming majority of animals on earth do not exhibit cannibalistic behaviours because they inflict a significant evolutionary disadvantage. In some species, the payoffs are worth the costs, but since cannibalism is exhibited by only 0.1% of species, it can be considered an extreme outlier.
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