"There are countless stories of survival in which individuals performed acts that previously would have been unthinkable to them..."

Even though the Donner Party was famed for cannibalism, most or at least half the people refused to do it. Alfred Packer was denounced for his preference for human meat when he had an ox carcass nearby.

You are what you are. Some people would probably break down and eat relatives, some wouldn't.

And it IS easier to keep food with you. People who are not accustomed to the fine art of hunting can have an incredibly hard time catching something. And I mean people who aren't REAL hunters, but the people who go out once a year with a high-powered rifle and gut-shoot some animal. Put them in the wilderness with a Mora and a Bic, and they'd probably starve to death.

Sue (where's the sneering emoticon...?)