Episode 188 - Cannibalism

The Common Descent Podcast

An animal eating another member of its own species might sound like a rare and abnormal occurrence – and it is often portrayed that way – but cannibalism is actually extremely widespread and common in nature. Some animals are occasional cannibals, while some go so far as to rely on this behavior to fuel proper growth and development. In this episode, we’ll discuss some of the varieties of cannibalism, explore how this behavior has been misunderstood and misconstrued in the past, and investigate some evidence from the fossil record.

In the news: toothless Cretaceous birds, giant river dolphins, Alaska dinosaurs, and Kermit the temnospondyl.

Time markers:
Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00|
News: 00:05:50
Main discussion, Part 1: 00:29:30
Main discussion, Part 2: 01:16:45
Patron question: 02:09:15

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The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org.

Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/