"When young crocodiles are ready to hatch, they let out calls that sound a bit like a sci-fi laser sound effect. When a mother crocodile hears those calls, she'll dig out the nest in preparation for her babies' arrival."
"Some mothers will do anything for their kids. That's especially true for the Tennessee winnow ant: a mother ant ensures her offspring's survival by killingand then chemically impersonatingthe queen of another species' colony, entomologist Alex Wild wrote in Scientific American in 2013. Slowly, the false queen's own progeny replaces the parasitized colony. (This impersonation tactic is apparently common among parasitic ants.)"
"Naked mole rat queens can have more than two dozen babies at a time A naked mole rat queen in brood chamber suckling babies."
Female alpine salamanders can gestate young for up to four years, while opossums can gestate for about two weeks. Parenting ranges from female-led whale groups lasting for generations to species that leave young to fend for themselves from birth, including snakes, fish, and turtles. Some animals reproduce by cloning, such as starfish and flatworms. Maternal roles can include nest preparation triggered by hatchling calls, as in Nile crocodiles. Some ants increase offspring survival by killing and chemically impersonating queens of other colonies. Naked mole rat queens can produce more than two dozen babies at a time, with nursing occurring in brood chambers.
#animal-reproduction #maternal-care #pregnancy-and-gestation #parasitic-behavior #ants-and-social-insects
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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