Name: 動物為什麼要吃自己的嬰兒？ (Why Do Animals Eat Their Babies?)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T07:15:29.000Z
Duration: 2 min 59 s
Description: 【看影片學英語】數萬部 YouTube 影片，搭配英漢字典即點即查，輕鬆掌握單字發音與用法，長久累積看電影不必再看字幕。

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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”

Hamster moms are not alone—pigs, bugs, birds,
snakes, primates, and fish all occasionally

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 suggests that it can

For instance, hamsters appear to use baby-eating
as a form of crowd control: females with litters

of 8 or 9 pups eat two of them, on average.

And when scientists have tried adding a couple
pups to the litter, the hamster moms eat four.

But removing a few pups the day they're
born pretty much stops the cannibalism before

it starts—suggesting that a hamster mom
eats her young to keep her litter small enough

that she can provide for the survivors and
ensure they grow up to pass on their genes.

Other critters, like the Long-tailed Sun Skink,
chow down on their babies only in emergencies.

When predators repeatedly threaten to eat
the mother's eggs, she beats them to it

Which actually makes sense: if the eggs are
doomed to become someone's lunch, making them

HER lunch helps prepare the mama skink for
another round of reproduction.

And sometimes, kids, you know, get in the
way, so they just have to go.

The male sand goby fertilizes eggs from multiple
females over a short period of time and cares

In order to mate again, he has to wait for
all his eggs to hatch, so he sacrifices the

slowpokes to free himself up for more baby-making.

In short, for critters across the animal kingdom
to maximize the resources, energy and opportunities

they need to pass on their genes, sometimes
it does make sense to order off of the kid's

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leading provider of audiobooks, with over

Annnd, on the topic of eating one's own
kind, maybe you'll want to check out Audible's

audiobook version of “Miracle in the Andes,”
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動物為什麼要吃自己的嬰兒？ (Why Do Animals Eat Their Babies?)

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