Filial cannibalism

Filial cannibalism is when an animal parent eats its own babies. Imagine if your mom or dad were so hungry that they decided to eat you or your siblings like a snack - that's what happens with some animals! It may sound scary, but in some cases it's actually a really important part of the animal's survival.

Animal parents sometimes eat their babies for a few different reasons. In some cases, they might not have enough food to feed all of their babies, and so they'll eat some of them to make sure the others have more to eat and are more likely to survive. This might seem mean, but it's actually a way for the animal parent to make sure that at least some of their babies will survive even if there isn't enough food to go around.

Another reason why animal parents might eat their babies is because the babies are sick or weak. In some cases, the strongest babies have the best chance of surviving and passing on their genes, so the animal parent might eat the weaker babies to increase the chances of their other, stronger babies surviving.

Overall, filial cannibalism might seem scary, but it's actually just one way that animals have adapted to survive in their environments. Sometimes it's important for animal parents to make tough decisions to help their babies have the best chance of survival, and eating some of them might be part of that.