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

If you enjoyed this video, you might want to check out this one by Jesse Agar: Why kill a baby? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REUzqgRh3GU (send some love from us)

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

Thanks to our supporters on https://www.patreon.com/MinuteEarth :

• Maarten Bremer
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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 Full text: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20060130?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Huang, W. (2008). Predation risk of whole-clutch filial cannibalism in a tropical skink with maternal care. Behavioral Ecology, 19(6), 1069-1074. Full text: http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/6/1069.full#ref-1

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 Abstract: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/522936#rf13

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 Abstract: http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/4/2/160

Why do some fish eat their own eggs? - Phys.org. (n.d.). Retrieved October 19, 2016, from http://phys.org/news/2016-02-fish-eggs.html