7d ago

Are there serial killers in other species?

was thinking it's weird how in humans sometimes ppl horrifically murder people. Do, for example, ants, have sometimes an ant that horrifically murders other ants?

19 comments

Hippos. They hate almost everything, but sometimes some of them hate each other more.
Some spiders tend to eat their partners, just because they're murderous, not hungry.
Different types of snakes tend to be quite racist and can't stand one another.
Koalas. They can be very aggressive about their leaves and will try to kick each other off trees.
Some sharks just don't give a shit on what they bite. Maybe because they're mostly blind.
Kangaroos will drown you, your kids, your pets and other kangaroos. Because fuck this, fuck that and fuck you. Kangaroos are psychos. Don't mess with them.
PS: Some of these examples might have specific circumstances or are plainly wrong. It happens.
- Not sure how you missed Chimpanzees. They will castrate each other bare handed if a feud develops, or out right murder an alpha that gives up primacy due to age or injury. Psychopaths of the animal kingdom.
  
  I'm not the chimp type. As such, I am lacking.
- The snake thing is from Rick and Morty, I'm pretty sure
  
  It might be. After enough time passes, i forget where the memory comes from and only tidbits of information remain.
- Add dolphins to the list too. Not only killing for fun but also raping and getting high off other species.
  
  That reminds me of Orcas, which if I remember correctly actually hunt whales primarily for sport rather than food

Unsurprisingly, its Chimpanzees. I've once read about a case where researchers studied a certain group of chimps, and observed that from time to time a young would disappear from the group, never to be seen again. Turns out an older female was luring them away from the group and murdered them. Apparently, there is a non-interference rule in wildlife research, so this went on until the group simply died out, because every single young fell victim to the serial killer.

cats seemingly kill birds and other wildlife for fun
(i love cats, before anyone gets upset)
- Cats killing birds for fun is more a symptom of humans feeding them, but the cat still having the instinct to hunt. In nature they would probably just kill for food 99% of the time, not do it for sport or play.
- Yeah, it's actually ecological terrorism to let a cat roam outside. "Domestic" cats have made several bird species go extinct. It's funny because I was going to post about cats being little sociopaths.
- But that's hunting for sport. Those are it's natural prey.
  Do cats kill other cats outside of a perceived threat to their life?
- The cat my family had went through a phase where he would organize dismembered body parts. Organs arranged in a line on a rock, heads collected in the sandbox, it was very macabre

Orcas. Orcas are menaces lol

I had no idea and decided to search around. While this may not directly answer your question, this article was a good read:
https://crimereads.com/the-most-murderous-mammals-adventures-from-the-dark-side-of-science/

Insert murder cats graphic from oatmeal

Have you heard of Argentine ants?
Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_ant
Radio lab episode: https://radiolab.org/podcast/argentine-invasion

Domestic tomcats frequently kill every kitten they sire. The theory that I hold is that the tomcats murder kittens to both prevent competition and to prepare the queen (the female cat - and yes, they are referred to as queens) for mating sooner.
- Something similar happens to lions, afaik, males that kill another male will proceed to kill the infants

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