I was watching a nature documentary where a crab produced several dozen babies, and then turned around and started eating them. If she needed the nutrients so badly, why not just have fewer kids? From a thermodynamic standpoint that would preserve more calories.
I’ve also seen footage of birds brooding, laying, and then hatching multiple eggs, only to push half of the chicks out of the nest. That’s such a huge investment of time and energy. Why not just lay fewer eggs?
In other situations it is more understandable: A male lion might kill another male’s offspring to make room for his own. Cuckoos push other baby birds out of the nest so they can be adopted by the parents. But many cases of infanticide in the wild just seem time-consuming and wasteful.
In: Biology
It exists because it IS very efficient. Mother mammals will often consume their young when in high stress situations around food and/or predation. Some mammals will actually abort their litter when under stress and the mother will then consume the litter. In this way they recoup as many calories as they can from the breeding attempt and are now fueled for a fight or flight to live and breed again another day.
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