Are humans the only predators to hunt for fun?

While predators such as cats will model hunting behavior in play, which can be devastating to baby birds and other easy prey, for the most part, predators kill to survive. They take prey when they need to eat.

Killing for the sheer fun of it works against their long-term survival, so evolution has selected for avoidance of it. Over hunting would soon kill off all the prey in a habitat, leading to a serious risk of starvation. Also, hunting is an inherently risky business. In any kill, there is a small but real risk that the prey might effectively fight back, injuring the predator. Even as powerful as an African lion or Bengal tiger is, a kick from a frightened buffalo’s or deer’s hoof might injure them seriously enough to prevent hunting till they starve. So they avoid unnecessarily risky behavior.

As sentient beings, quite a few humans don’t seem to follow the rules that nature has determined work best for long-term survival. Some of us kill for fun. We not only kill animals for fun, with no intention of eating them, but just as trophies or for bragging rights. We even kill fellow humans for fun. Witness the case of Corporal Jeffrey Morlock and his four fellow soldiers from the US Army’s 5th Stryker Brigade killing Afghan civilians for sport and collecting macabre body parts as souvenirs. Why aren’t we smart enough to behave at least as sensibly as a dumb animal?