To kill wild animals, trophy hunters must pay substantial sums of money—often tens of thousands of dollars—to travel the world. Who can forget the 2015 Zimbabwean lion Cecil’s death? He was pursued for several hours with a bow and arrow before a Minnesota dentist who was an avid trophy hunter skinned and killed him.

Why males (and some women) feel the need to kill in this way is a question that many of us genuinely find perplexing. Is it possible for psychology to provide some insight into the reasons for hunting motivation?

Hunters themselves contend that big-game hunting is ingrained in our DNA and plays a crucial role in our evolutionary history.

However, an anthropological study indicates that taking large prey doesn’t always result in future benefits because it produces too much food at one time.

A distinct evolutionary theory known as the “costly signalling theory” is presented in one study. It states that the dead prey boosted the fitness status and sexual advantage of members of the ancestral hunting group by serving as an obvious demonstration of skill and bravery, much like a peacock’s feathers.

Researchers examined 455 hunting tales from internet hunting forums to obtain some understanding of the psychological drivers behind trophy hunters’ actions. They selected 2,864 distinct phrases from these tales to determine the causes of hunters’ satisfaction following their killings.

They discovered that “achievement” was the most commonly mentioned, followed by “love” and “appreciation” of the animals they shoot, as well as “affiliation,” which refers to the feeling of belonging to a hunting community and the subsequent strengthening of social ties.

Another study examined the hunters’ nonverbal cues, particularly the kind of smile they had in social media photos of themselves posing with their slain victim. They discovered that when hunters were photographed with carnivores as opposed to herbivores and with large prey as opposed to tiny ones, there was a considerable increase in the likelihood of showing smiles of “true pleasure.” The study’s findings, according to the authors, emphasise the significance of the idea of inner achievement in trophy hunting.

This is the point at which psychology can start to clarify what drives people to go hunting.

The so-called “dark triad” of personality traits—narcissism, Machiavellianism, and (non-clinical) psychopathy—have all been proposed as potential contributors.

Positive attention is what narcissists want, and they have an exaggerated sense of self. They have to use techniques to uphold and enhance their self-image to keep this inflated sense of self-worth, such as taking pictures of themselves with freshly killed lions. Like the carefully curated social media photos, Machiavellians frequently exploit social settings for their objectives, while psychopaths are typically cold and empathetic; they just do not feel the same depth of feeling about the pain of others, whether it be human or animal. Therefore, they can continue to believe in their superiority by using animals as props without feeling guilty.

I’m just baffled as to how people can kill defenceless animals. It’s heartless and savage, and it only serves to highlight how little humanity has changed since our original species.

If only these vicious hunters could switch places with the animals, they would experience what it’s like to be the prey.

Animals are not our trophies. Animals live among humans and should be treated with respect, and there’s no justification for such needless violence.

These folks should feel ashamed of themselves for killing these defenceless animals in the absence of anyone to stand up for them. This is abhorrent.

How brave, killing a majestic wild animal by hiding behind a tree and shooting it down with a weapon. I’m guessing they probably wouldn’t feel as brave if they had to face it with their bare hands.