Why Do Animals Eat Their Babies?
Sometimes, it makes sense for critters across the animal kingdom to chow down on their own young. Thanks to http://www.audible.com/minuteearth for sponsoring this video. If you enjoyed this...
==========
Hi, this is Emily from MinuteEarth. Sometimes, a hamster mom looks at her adorable little babies and is like, 'I just want to gobble you up'—except not in a cute way...more in an “I’M ACTUALLY ABOUT TO EAT YOU” way. Hamster moms are not alone—pigs, bugs, birds, snakes, primates, and fish all occasionally nom on the next generation. Which is weird. Not just because we humans consider it deeply wrong to eat our own babies, but also because making babies is the primary goal of virtually all life, so eating them, and the genes they carry, seems like the ultimate act of self defeat. But self-defeating impulses have a pretty straightforward way of dying out, so the fact that species across the animal kingdom occasionally cannibalize their young...
==========
Hi, this is Emily from MinuteEarth. Sometimes, a hamster mom looks at her adorable little babies and is like, 'I just want to gobble you up'—except not in a cute way...more in an “I’M ACTUALLY ABOUT TO EAT YOU” way. Hamster moms are not alone—pigs, bugs, birds, snakes, primates, and fish all occasionally nom on the next generation. Which is weird. Not just because we humans consider it deeply wrong to eat our own babies, but also because making babies is the primary goal of virtually all life, so eating them, and the genes they carry, seems like the ultimate act of self defeat. But self-defeating impulses have a pretty straightforward way of dying out, so the fact that species across the animal kingdom occasionally cannibalize their young...
