Beyond prayer, Pi attempts to practice religious rituals, but his commitment to God is tested. As he has no sense of geographical coordinates, he cannot remember the direction of Mecca and forgets what Arabic he knew. He performs solitary Masses without priests and darshans without Hindu murtis while replacing the religious offering of prasad with turtle meat. While this comforts him, he feels immense suffering.

Richard Parker begins to recognize Pi’s alpha status when he starts hiding his feces. As part of a training routine, Pi picks up the feces and blows a whistle to assert his dominance, which makes Richard Parker nervous. Both Pi and Richard Parker suffer from constipation due to dehydration and a protein-heavy diet. Pi’s humanity and physical body begins to deteriorate. Faced with severe hunger, Pi attempts to eat Richard Parker’s feces, but he quickly spits it out, recognizing its lack of nutritional value.

Pi catches a four-foot mako shark and feeds him to Richard Parker, who accidently bites Pi. The accident is a reminder that, despite his power and grace, Richard Parker is not perfect. As Pi and Richard Parker continue to coexist, Pi finds himself wolfing down his meals in the same animalistic manner as Richard Parker.