Every kind of animal in this world needs to make an effort to survive. There are many threats that can make animals lose their lives, ranging from predatory animals, extreme natural conditions, disease, and human activities. In fact, sometimes animals have to try to survive the threats of their own species.
Some types of animals have had to face threats from their own species from infancy. They have to fight with their fellow brothers to survive. Only the strong can survive, while the weak will lose and die. Here are 6 examples of animals that have had to kill each other from infancy with their siblings in order to survive.
1. The golden eagle
First there is the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), an eagle whose distribution includes Eurasia, Africa, and North America. According to the page Animal Diversity, the mother golden eagle generally produces 2 eggs, with 3-4 days between eggs. After incubating, the two eggs will hatch within a few days.
Early baby eagles are generally much larger and stronger than the second. So usually the first baby will kill his younger sibling so that he can dominate the food brought by the mother. This is especially true when food is hard to come by.
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2. Hyena
phys.org–
Mutual killing between siblings can also occur in mammals. One of them is hiena. Page New Scientist call that spotted hiena baby (Crocuta crocuta) naturally had the instinct to attack his own brother. It’s evident that a baby hiena will usually attack her younger sibling only a few minutes after birth!
Sometimes, a baby hiena will even attack his sibling who is still wrapped in the amniotic sac. Even if his brother survives, the competition will continue. Usually the older hiena will become more dominant, including fighting over the mother’s milk. This sometimes results in the younger sibling not getting enough nutrition and eventually dying.
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3. Sand tiger shark
smithsonianmag.com–
Competition between siblings in the sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus) is even worse. These baby sharks not only attack and kill their siblings, they eat them too! In fact, the cruelty takes place not when they are born, but in the mother’s womb!
Sand tiger sharks reproduce ovoviviparally, which means they produce eggs, but the eggs hatch in the mother’s womb. Well, the embryo that hatches for the first time will certainly grow bigger than its siblings. So when the embryo reaches a size of about 10 cm, it will prey on its siblings.
Female sand tiger sharks have 2 uterus, so usually this mother shark will give birth to 2 babies that dominate each womb. By the time they come out of the womb, the baby sand tiger sharks are already 90-125 cm in size, much larger than the size they could have achieved if they had not eaten their siblings.
Also Read: 6 Endemic Australian Animals Are Much Cuddly than Koalas
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4. Wasps
harvesttotable.com–
Not only sharks, wasps also have a habit of eating their siblings when they are still larvae. Page NBC News explained that the parent wasp of the genus Copidosoma produces two eggs, one male and one female, which he injects into the body of a host, such as a caterpillar. Then the two eggs will each split and produce thousands of larvae.
The host body provides only about half of the nutrients the wasp larvae need. Then the female larvae which are naturally larger in size will begin to eat their own male siblings. Ultimately, about 80 percent of wasp larvae that manage to grow to adulthood are females.
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5. Salamander tiger
chesapeakebay.net–
Salamander tiger (Ambystoma tigrinum) can also be cannibals and prey on his own siblings. But you could say they are ‘better’ because they will only eat their siblings if they have to. Page Ask A Biologist mentioned that when they are about 4 weeks old, the tiger salamanders will begin to make their fellow salamanders their prey.
Uniquely, tiger salamanders prefer to prey on salamanders who are not their siblings. They will only eat their own siblings if they are really short of food. In fact, by preying on salamanders who are not their siblings, they are actually helping their siblings by eliminating competitors in search of food.
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6. Burung cuckoo
bto.org–
Bird cuckoo (family Cuculidae) also has a habit of killing his own brother. But unlike other animals, birds cuckoo did not kill his sibling, but his half brother! How come?
Parent bird cuckoo arguably one of the most cunning parent animals in the world. This mother bird does not lay eggs in her own nest, but in other birds’ nests. The goal is so that other birds will feed and raise their young! Usually birds cuckoo will ‘deposit’ their eggs in the nest of sparrows, robins, or warblers.
Bird eggs cuckoo will usually hatch before the eggs of other birds, until the baby birds cuckoo will even be larger than his step-brothers. Baby birds cuckoo it can also be loud and demand its adoptive mother to feed it.
This usually results in birds cuckoo get all the food from the adoptive mother, while the half brothers lack food. Sometimes even a baby cuckoo will push its eggs or half-siblings out of the nest. Wow, that’s really sneaky!
These are 6 examples of animals that often kill their siblings as babies. Although they may seem cruel and terrifying, they are actually natural phenomena that are essential for survival. Without doing so, these animals may end up growing so deficiently that they cannot survive and cannot sustain their species.
Also read: Ancient animals from 40 million years ago, this is the long history of dragons
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