What Cannibals Could Teach Us About Evolution
Fruit fly Dreamstime Three recent studies provide a glimpse into nature's most gruesome diet--and what it reveals about evolution. In the past few decades, scientists studying the eating habits of Earth's creatures have noticed something strange: the babies of several species, from tiger sand sharks to fruit flies, are eating each other. Yikes. Thing is, they aren't freaks of nature. And in fact, the mechanisms behind animal cannibalism are helping scientists ask--and answer--some important evolutionary questions. These three recent studies provide a glimpse into this gruesome diet and what it means for evolution. Why paternity might still matter after fertilization Sand tiger sharks have been known to have cannibalistic embryos since the 1980s, when detailed autopsies revealed embryos in the stomachs of other shark embryos. But a new study published in Biological Letters could give some clues as to why. Female sand tiger sharks aren't the most faithful--they tend to mate...