GabrielGABFonseca wrote:Arioch, I was wondering, do the Loroi have any inhibitions against eating their dead? As a warrior species, I guess funeral rites would be important to them, but at the seem time, they do seem to me the kind of efficiency-oriented species that wouldn't want to waste the snack.
Cannibalism is very rare, not just in humans, but in pretty much all higher animals (especially mammals). In addition to the obvious social taboos against viewing your own kind as food, and that other carnivores tend not to be very tasty, I think the primary reason for this is that disease organisms pass most easily between members of the same species; eating the flesh of one of your own kind leaves you very prone to catching whatever nasty bugs he may have had (hence the spread of diseases like Mad Cow). You're also more likely to consume species-specific hormones or other chemical compounds which may improperly signal your own body to do something you don't want it to do.
The few mammals that do cannibalize tend to be scavengers, like hyenas. They can probably get away with this because they have to have a robust gut microbiome that allows them to eat carrion without dying. So I think any species that regularly engages in cannibalism will probably need to be specialized to do so.
Ironically, eating your own young or your juvenile siblings is probably the safest form of cannibalism, as they are unlikely to have any diseases that you don't already have. I think this is the most common form of cannibalism in non-scavenger mammals and birds.
Loroi are not carrion eaters, and they are just as emotionally attached to their friends and family as humans are, so I don't expect cannibalism will be any more common among Loroi than it is in humans. Which is for the most part, limited to rare instances of emergency famine, insanity, or bizarre (and usually short-lived) tribal rituals.