It seems like Cecil’s mockery of the practice, *hasn’t *[stamped the idea out.
While looking for something else, I stumbled across a web page about the Navajo turtle spirit, and its link to the placenta. When a child is born, the placenta is dried and placed inside a…pouch, or something honoring the turtle spirit. The turtle spirit is linked to safety and strength. You want more? Look it up yourself. You’ll remember better than I did, maybe.
Other mammals do certainly eat the placenta. It’s weird to see a cow or ewe doing it. Frankly? Kinda gross.
There are several reasons for it, although I suppose no animal other than a human could explain it for sure. One reason given is that the placenta will attract predators, so the mother eats it. Another is that it triggers milk production, containing a hormone that aids with that. Another reason is to keep the nest clean, but cows and ewes, etc., don’t have “nests” like wolves or cats.
There was a move afoot, I vaguely recall, during the counter-culture era, fora woman to eat the placenta because it was “natural”. I don’t know if it was ever a common practice in any human culture, but the proper handling of the placenta was important in many.
Do the other primates eat the placenta?
I remember an early SNL fake ad for “Placenta Helper.” Ewwwwwww.