ALGONQUIN BOOKS, FEBRUARY 2017The golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) is a popular children’s pet, but these cuddly fuzz balls are also known to display some nightmarish behavior in captivity—namely, cannibalism. Although it might be difficult for a parent to explain this to a child traumatized by the sight of a brood of “pinkies” being eaten by their mom, or the discovery of a half-consumed corpse of an adult hamster, the behavior is a typical response to a myriad of stress-related conditions. These stem from major differences between the animal’s natural habitat (subterranean burrows in a dry desert environment) and captive conditions, where pets are typically housed in fish tanks carpeted in damp wood shavings, or in trendy modular contraptions in which see-through plastic tubes link “rooms” to each other. Add this to the fact that adult hamsters in the wild are solitary, highly territorial, and only emerge from their burrows for short periods at dawn and dusk (to avoid their natural enemies—dogs and cats), and you have the recipe for stressed-out pets that will cannibalize their siblings and even their own pups.
Until relatively recently, scientists believed that the cannibalism seen in species such as hamsters, black widow spiders, and praying mantises was a product of either the stresses associated with captivity or a lack of alternative forms of nutrition (think the Donner Party). In the 1970s and 80s, however, researchers such as Laurel Fox and Gary Polis learned that not only was cannibalism widespread in nature, it was related to completely natural phenomena, including sexual selection and variable environmental conditions. In my new book Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History, I explored the practice across the animal kingdom with an eye toward why it occurs. Viewing the phenomenon through the lens of modern biology, it became possible to examine some of the most famous examples of human ...
