Infanticide (zoology)

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

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Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/infanticide-zoology

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the lifespan?Varies immensely depending on the species exhibiting the behavior
2. What is the key behavioral driver?Maximizing individual reproductive fitness through strategies like group takeovers or resource management
3. What is infanticide in animals?Infanticide is when an adult animal intentionally kills babies of its own species. It happens in many animals, from tiny rotifers to big mammals. The act is usually done to help the adult survive or reproduce.
4. Why do male lions kill baby lions when a new male takes over?The new male kills babies that aren’t his to make the mothers ready to have babies of his own faster. This helps him have his own babies sooner and increases his chances of passing on his genes.

Conspecific: An individual belonging to the same species as another individual.
Fitness (Evolutionary): An organism's ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.
Sexual Selection: A mode of natural selection in which members of one biological sex choose mates of the other sex to mate with.
Filial Cannibalism: The act of a parent consuming its own offspring.