11 Cannibal Animals That Devour Their Own Friends, The Most Feared Group of Black Widows

SPACE — Cannibalism is not the most taboo thing in nature, and is more common in the animal world. They have been eating their own kind for millions of years, and the world’s oldest case occurred in trilobites half a billion years ago.

Today, many creatures engage in this behavior. Some only become cannibals in certain rare scenarios. From hungry hippos to self-sacrificing spiders, here are 12 animals that eat their friends.

1. Monkey

Cannibalism in monkeys is usually associated with infanticide. For example, in 2019, researchers observed a group of Panamanian white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus Mimickers) cannibalizing newborn baby monkeys in Costa Rica’s Santa Rosa National Park. The 10-day-old monkey fell from a tree.

Researchers suspect that the baby monkey was attacked by an adult male monkey until it fell and died. Typically, adult males of many different species will kill offspring that are not directly related to them for the chance to father their own offspring.

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2. Polar Bear

Most cases of polar bear (Ursus maritimus) cannibalism involve males killing cubs or sometimes adult female polar bears. However, a 2011 study published in the journal Arctic found that both male and female polar bears would scavenge the carcasses of polar bears that had been killed and skinned by humans.

In 2020, The Guardian reported cannibalism was increasing in polar bears in northern Russia. The cause is thought to be a lack of food due to melting sea ice and human activity which forces them away from their usual hunting grounds.

3. Jaguar

A 2010 study published in the journal The Southwestern Naturalist documented the first case of wild cannibalism among adult jaguars (Panthera onca). Two male jaguars killed and partially ate a female jaguar.