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Desert Spider, Stegodyphus lineatus, one of the best-described species that participates in matriphagy Matriphagy is the consumption of the mother by her offspring. [1] [2] The behavior generally takes place within the first few weeks of life and has been documented in some species of insects, nematode worms, pseudoscorpions, and other arachnids as well as in caecilian amphibians.
Filial cannibalism occurs when an adult individual of a species consumes all or part of the young of its own species or immediate offspring.Filial cannibalism occurs in many species ranging from mammals to insects, and is especially prevalent in various types of fish species with males that engage in egg guardianship. [1]
Infants and young children would often be killed, roasted, and eaten by their mother and sometimes also fed to siblings, usually during times of famine. In non-filial cases when a child was "well-fed" and in the absence of its mother sometimes a man or the whole community would kill and consume the child. [57] [58]
Some animals starve to death shortly after birthing their young while others are eaten by their own young -- but these mothers make the ultimate sacrifice. Click through for 10 animal mothers that ...
In many instances of nonparental infanticide in carnivores, the male of a species kills the young of a female to make her sexually receptive, e.g. brown bears. When one or two new male lions defeat and exile the previous males of a pride, the conqueror(s) will often kill any existing young cubs fathered by the losers. [3]
Domestic cats, dogs, and primates, such as humans, are some of the best-known altricial organisms. [14] For example, newborn domestic cats cannot see, hear, maintain their own body temperature, or gag, and require external stimulation in order to defecate and urinate. [15]
The increased contact between the adult and the infant is what enhances the adoption of parental behavior. In addition to increasing the parenting tendencies of mother rats, it has been seen that placentophagia by female weanling laboratory rats when the mother births a subsequent litter, elevates alloparenting behavior toward their siblings. [8]
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