Why Do Animals Eat Their Babies?

Sometimes, it makes sense for critters across the animal kingdom to chow down on their own young.

LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Filial cannibalism: is a form of infanticide that occurs when an adult individual of a species consumes all or part of the young of its own species or immediate offspring.

Species featured in this video:
- Hamsters (Cricetinae family)
- Assassin bug (Rhinocoris tristis)
- Red Tailed Monkeys (Cercopithecus ascanius)
- Long Tailed Skink (Eutropis longicaudata)
- Egg-eating snake (Oligodon formosanus)
- Sand goby (Pomatoschistus minutus)

CREDITS
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Script Writer: Rachel Becker
Script Editor: Alex Reich
Video Illustrator: Ever Salazar
Video Director: Emily Elert
Video Narrator: Emily Elert
With Contributions From: Henry Reich, Kate Yoshida, Peter Reich, David Goldenberg
Music by: Nathaniel Schroeder

- Maarten Bremer
- Jeff Straathof
- Tony Fadell
- Muhammad Shifaz
- Mark Roth
- Melissa Vigil
- Valentin
- Alberto Bortoni

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- Share this video with your friends and family
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REFERENCES
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Special thanks to Professor Hope Klug, from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, for help with research on this video!

Day, C. S., & Galef, B. G. (1977). Pup cannibalism: One aspect of maternal behavior in golden hamsters. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 91(5), 1179-1189. doi:10.1037/h0077386

Gilbert, W. M., Nolan, P. M., Stoehr, A. M., & Hill, G. E. (2005). Filial Cannibalism at a House Finch Nest. The Wilson Bulletin, 117(4), 413-415. doi:10.1676/04-003.1

Huang, W. (2008). Predation risk of whole-clutch filial cannibalism in a tropical skink with maternal care. Behavioral Ecology, 19(6), 1069-1074.

Klug, H., & Bonsall, M. (2007). When to Care for, Abandon, or Eat Your Offspring: The Evolution of Parental Care and Filial Cannibalism. The American Naturalist, 170(6), 886-901. doi:10.1086/522936

Klug, H., & Lindstrom, K. (2008). Hurry-up and hatch: Selective filial cannibalism of slower developing eggs. Biology Letters, 4(2), 160-162. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0589

[MinuteEarth]

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[ZhiwaJ]

Human mom: Let's eat, kids!

Animal mom: Let's eat kids!

[agerrgerra]

"Sometimes it makes sense to order off the kids menu"

The "Kids Menu" is going to have a drastically different meaning for me now...

[Mrspb]

“Sometimes it does make sense to order off the kids menu”

Dam is that a dark sentence or what 😂😂

[ghoststrad]

I’m glad this was told with cute drawings instead of actual footages☠️

[Chris-fjpr]

Human : "omg you're gonna eat your cub?! But that's like your child!"
Animal : "nah son, free food"

[C_Bat]

The Kid's Menu would never look the same for

[aasiyah]

Well I am going to start cleaning my room more often I don’t want my mom eating me-

[watermelonworms]

Animals like hamsters will also eat their babies if they are born too weak or deformed. It's kind of like a way of picking off the weak ones that won't survive.

[amanda.equine]

1:47 I know Dory and Ariel but who’s Sheila

[thecrimsonaxe]

Seventh hamster: *is born*
Also seventh hamster: Why do I hear boss music?

[jietang]

Me: “Hey mum can we have food outside?”

Mum: “We have food at home.”

Food at home:

[tagreedibrahim]

2:12 that was the darkest pun I have ever heard

[franciscogutierrez]

I got this from school:
“Let’s eat grandpa!” *with punctuation*
“Let’s eat, grandpa!”
“This is why punctuation matters”

[wuskevo]

Seventh hamster: *is born*
Also him: Why am i here... Just to suffer

[aldozulfikar]

_When your mum say: _*_ITS DINNER TIME!_*


_Human: _*_Good things_*
_Hamster: _*_It's a bad things_*

[sunnekrize]

the snack that smiles back






children

[doso]

I was watching this when my mum yelled ”have you done your chores?” I said ”No” She then sighs and scolds me, and then she yells ”Alright, but anyways, its dinnertime..."

[sylveonumbreon]

Okay Now i swear that if i ever find an Hamster mom with more than 6 kids
I'm taking those kids

[neroflame]

Hamsters: * eats with no regrets *
Humans: "I should've swallowed you"