CONTENTS

Prologue

Animals

1 Animal the Cannibal: Nature’s Way?

2 It’s All Relative: Filial and Sibling Cannibalism

3 Size Matters: Sexual Cannibalism

4 Under Pressure: Stress-Related Cannibalism

5 Carnivore Cannibals: From Dinosaurs to Polar Bears

6 Skin Deep: The Weird World of Caecilian Cannibalism

Humans

7 Us and Them: Early Humans and Neanderthals

8 Myths of the Other: Columbus, Caribs and Cannibalism

9 Bones of Contention: Ritual Cannibalism

10 Take, Eat, This is My Body: Cannibalism and the Bible

11 Sieges, Strandings and Starvation: Survival Cannibalism

12 Culture is King: Origins of the Western Cannibalism Taboo

13 China: Beyond the Western Taboo

14 Skull Moss and Mummy Powder: Medicinal Cannibalism

15 Too Much to Swallow: Placentophagy

16 No Laughing Matter: Cannibalism and Kuru in the Pacific Islands

17 Apocalypse Cow: The Origins of BSE

18 Truth or Consequences: BSE, CJD and Human Health

Epilogue: One Step Beyond

Acknowledgements

Notes

Further Reading

Index