Why are Chimpanzees eating humans -- isn't that outside their diet?

So… you want to see a person getting eaten by a bear? Did you also watch that Ukranian serial killer video where the killers beat the guy’s face off with a hammer and stick a screwdriver into his brain through his eye socket?

Well, since you asked, sure (I would if I knew where to find it). And I don’t think I’d be the only one – maybe just the only one who’d admit it.

I think violence and pornography are just innate draws for some folks.

But I think the hijack has gone on long enough, so I’ll say no more.

Does it have legs and big claw-like grabbers?

I have an old online buddy who’s a primatologist at the University of Minnesota. She’s worked for several years in Kibale National Park, and she says that chimps can and have snatched human babies and tried to eat them. Strangely enough, on the very rare occasions where it has happened, the chimp just takes a couple of bites and then drops the corpse and leaves it. She says our fat content is too high, and that makes us unpalatable to them.

ETA: Disclaimer—I’m just a partially deaf person with a working knowledge of ASL and a fondness for all things primate. I have no real expert or firsthand insight into the inner workings of the minds of our next of kin.

Bear in mind that humans eat chimps – look up “bush meat.” In the context that we ARE a subspecies of chimp…not metaphorically, but cladistically, one chimp species has been eating the other pretty much routinely. The novelty is that the tables are on some occasions turned.

The OP was succinctly answered. Closed.

samclem Moderator, General Questions