(Ignoring prions for now) Eating your own kind should definitely expose you to pathogens, infections and parasites that are directly compatible with you. I th

(Ignoring prions for now) Eating your own kind should definitely expose you to pathogens, infections and parasites that are directly compatible with you. I think in nature it would tend to be a bad strategy due to this, even though in cases it would make a lot of sense otherwise. IIRC the SF novel 'The Legacy of Heorot' had an alien life cycle/population dynamic based on this idea of using cannibalism coupled with a staged life-cycle to allow the creature to exploit a wider ecological niche. The juveniles were herbivores and the adult forms then ate the juveniles, forming a joined niche.