Search results for "Cannibalism"

Early Holocene ritual complexity in South America: the archaeological record of Lapa do Santo (east-central Brazil)

2016

Early Archaic human skeletal remains found in a burial context in Lapa do Santo in east-central Brazil provide a rare glimpse into the lives of hunter-gatherer communities in South America, including their rituals for dealing with the dead. These included the reduction of the body by means of mutilation, defleshing, tooth removal, exposure to fire and possibly cannibalism, followed by the secondary burial of the remains according to strict rules. In a later period, pits were filled with disarticulated bones of a single individual without signs of body manipulation, demonstrating that the region was inhabited by dynamic groups in constant transformation over a period of centuries.

Cannibalism facilitates gigantism in a nine-spined stickleback (Pungitius pungitius) population

2016

Cannibalism is a taxonomically widespread phenomenon that can fundamentally affect the structure and stability of aquatic communities, including the emergence of a bimodal size distribution (“dwarfs” and “giants”) in fish populations. Emergence of giants could also be driven or facilitated by parasites that divert host resources from reproduction to growth. We studied the trophic ecology of giant nine-spined sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius) in a Finnish pond to evaluate the hypotheses that gigantism in this population would be facilitated by cannibalism and/or parasitic infections by Schistocephalus pungitii cestode. Stomach content analyses revealed an initial ontogenetic dietary shift f…

Effects of starvation on survival, cannibalism, body mass, and intestinal protozoan profile in the subterranean termite Reticulitermes lucifugus

2019

Scarcity or inadequate nutrition can affect biological and behavioural aspects of subterranean termites and their intestinal protozoan profile. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in survival, cannibalism, body mass, and protist community structure of Reticulitermes lucifugus Rossi subspecies “Sicily” following starvation to provide basic knowledge for the development of more specific studies on a possible survival strategy under stressful conditions. In nature, this termite consumes many food sources and its feeding activity is continuous during the year. In a 35-day laboratory experiment, groups of 50 termites (worker/soldier ratio 49:1) were subjected to two diets, starvatio…

Burial behaviour by dealates of the termite Pseudacanthotermes spiniger (Termitidae, Macrotermitinae) induced by chemical signals from termite corpses

2011

In order to maintain healthy colonies, termite workers dispose of the cadavers of dead nest mates by cannibalism, burial, or necrophoresis. However, when multiple reproductives found a new colony by pleometrosis, there are no worker castes at the early stages of the foundation to eliminate or isolate the corpses. In this study, we showed that in young pleometrotic colonies, reproductives of Pseudacanthotermes spiniger had the ability to perform this task. Because of the claustral conditions, and the potential inability of the dealates to feed on their own, their behaviour was restricted to the burial of the cadaver within the initial chamber. This burial behaviour, previously not reported i…

Sexual cannibalism in Nephila plumipes as a consequence of female life history strategies

2002

The evolution of sexual cannibalism has been modelled as both an adaptive and nonadaptive female strategy. Recent evidence from several species suggests a connection between female foraging and sexual cannibalism, but the precise benefits for females have remained obscure. Here, we investigate the difference between cannibalistic and noncannibalistic female Nephila plumipes by removing the potential nutritional benefit of cannibalism. Courting and mating males that were killed by a female were immediately removed so that the female could not consume them. Nevertheless, cannibalistic females gained more mass from maturation to oviposition and produced larger first clutches than noncannibalis…

Le basi neurologiche del concetto di sacro e influenze sulle sue manifestazioni.

2008

Dopo aver riassunto la ricostruzione dell'origine delle idee religiose, aggiungendo alcune considerazioni, accenneremo alle principali linee di ricerca sui neuromodulatori che si ritengono maggiormente implicati nella genesi delle idee e dei comportamenti religiosi ed, infine, riassumeremo i risultati di nostri studi precedenti sui complessi rapporti fra fattori ambientali (in particolare nutritivi), neurobiologici e culturali che hanno caratterizzato le civiltà dell'America precolombiana, in particolare quella azteca.

Mother and offspring fitness in an insect with maternal care: phenotypic trade-offs between egg number, egg mass and egg care

2014

Background Oviparous females have three main options to increase their reproductive success: investing into egg number, egg mass and/or egg care. Although allocating resources to either of these three components is known to shape offspring number and size, potential trade-offs among them may have key impacts on maternal and offspring fitness. Here, we tested the occurrence of phenotypic trade-offs between egg number, egg mass and maternal expenditure on egg care in the European earwig, Forficula auricularia, an insect with pre- and post-hatching forms of maternal care. In particular, we used a series of laboratory observations and experiments to investigate whether these three components no…

Guerre et Politique

2014

Cannibalismo e antropopoiesi nella poesia iliadica

2010

Il contributo individua nel desiderio di cannibalismo una strategia di rappresentazione della violenza estrema nel poema dell'Iliade, che pone chi la esercita al di fuori dell'umano. In tal modo per converso il cannibalismo si rivela dispositivo antropopoietico in quanto costruisce modelli di umanità.

Size-dependent tradeoffs in aggressive behavior towards kin

2020

AbstractAggression between juveniles can be unexpected, as their primary motivation is to survive until their reproductive stage. However, instances of aggression, which may escalate to cannibalism, can be vital for survival, although the factors (e.g. genetic or environmental) leading to cannibalism vary across taxa. While cannibalism can greatly accelerate individual growth, it may also reduce inclusive fitness when kin are consumed. As a solution to this problem, some cannibals demonstrate kin discrimination and preferentially attack unrelated individuals. Here, we used both experimental and modeling approaches to consider how physical traits (e.g. size in relation to opponent) and genet…