raptors,cannibalism

[Mike Bonham <bonham@jade.ab.ca>]

jbauer@capital.edu (John Bauer) wrote:
> re: baby raptors - Is there any evidence out there that any species extinct
> or otherwise is capable of producing a quantity of ofspring which could 
> support
> canibalism as an exclusive dietary intake?

The hypothesis that baby troodonts (and by extension, other small predators
such as Velociraptor) were parasites in the nests of `host' dinosaurs
(a little like modern cuckoos) implies that the `cannibalism' would consist
of the parasitic carnivore eating its foster nest-mates (of the host
species).  So, it's not exactly cannibalism of and by their own species.

However, there is a kind of land-dwelling tree crab living on desolate
islands in the Pacific ocean, devoid of edible vegetation and crab food.
The adult crabs spawn and release eggs in their billions into the sea.
The free-swimming crab larvae subsist on plankton, then when they turn into
little crabs, come ashore on (another/the same) island.  Most of them are
devoured by big crabs of their own species.  The major food source for the
adults is cannibalism upon their own young.  The young are used as food
harvesters out in the open ocean, who bring the nutrition back in the form
of their own bodies.  Sick, huh?  But it lets the crabs live out on desolate
islands free from other predators, I guess.
----
  Mike Bonham     bonham@jade.ab.ca    Jade Simulations International
``Organization is the enemy of improvisation.''        -- Beaverbrook