And You Thought YOUR Mom was Weird…

Nature 3 Minutes

Moms — we’ve all got them, and we all need them. But some animals have a slightly different idea of what it means to be a good mother. From moms who turn their bodies into food to others who encourage their young to become cannibals, here are the weirdest mothering techniques in nature.

Chickens

Chicken moms take their duties very seriously. Creating an endless amount of calcium carbonate for eggshells is a difficult task, so if chickens don’t get enough calcium in their diets, they’ll actually dissolve their own bones to make baby-housing shells. That’s one way to lose baby weight!

Cuckoos

Cuckoos have figured out a unique way to get the neighbors to do the difficult work of raising young. Momma cuckoos will sneakily lay their eggs in another bird’s nest. In doing so, the cuckoo tricks the other bird — often a different, smaller species — into taking on the expensive burden of raising the chick. The cuckoo chick usually hatches first, and grows faster, forcing the other chicks out of the nest, where they then die. It then gets the full attention of its adoptive parents, giving it much greater chances of survival.

Blood-Sucking Ants

The tiny endangered Madagascar-based Adetomyrmaant has a strange way to show love to its kiddos. The ants practice something known as “non-destructive cannibalism.” When the colony’s queen gives birth to ant larvae, she and her workers chew holes in the tiny babies to feed on their haemolymph – their circulatory system fluid (which would be blood in mammals). Scientists can’t say exactly why these ants do this — ants have a social behavior of transferring fluids to each other, so they may be practicing a rudimentary form of that behavior. The baby ants don’t die, but sucking blood from the young is a weird way to show vampire affection.

Gray Whales

Sometimes, mothers in the wild have to go to great lengths to protect their young.

Pacific gray whales migrate thousands of miles from cold, plankton-rich Arctic waters to relatively nutrient-poor tropical lagoons off of the coast of Mexico where they give birth. While the journey takes the gray whales away from a bountiful food supply, the southern neighborhood is free of the dangerous orcas (they stick to colder waters) that otherwise hunt the newborn whales. It also gives their newborns time to feed on their mothers’ incredibly rich milk (53 percent fat!) and build a layer of insulating blubber before the must head to the icy Arctic. Like bears, the mother whales go hungry for months while still needing to produce high-calorie milk for their babies. During this time they may lose as much as 8 tons of weight.

Spiders

For many spiders, the act of mating signals that their lives are about to end — remember Charlotte’s Web? For several species of the Stegodyphus spiders, motherly love goes even further than watching over the nest. Females attach their egg cocoons to their webs and watch over them until the babies hatch. Once her children have hatched, the mother continues to eat, but regurgitates most of her meals as a nutrient soup for her offspring while the spiderlings stay in their mother’s web.

When the babies are around a month old, the mother spider rolls over on her back allowing the spiderlings to clamber over her, kill her by injecting their venom and digestive enzymes into her body, and eat her. After the young gobble her up, they turn on each other and cannibalize as many of their siblings as they can before leaving their mother’s web. Thanksgiving dinners are probably pretty awkward after that kind of upbringing.

Sea Louse

Talk about a painful pregnancy. The small fish-clinging female sea louse has to deal with males that impregnate up to 25 females at one time. The worst part? By the time she is ready to give birth to hundreds of baby lice, she sits back and the babies chew through her insides to emerge into the world.Poison Frog

The teensy female poison arrow frog literally goes above and beyond when taking on the duties of motherhood. After laying as many as five eggs and watching them hatch, the strawberry poison arrow frog carries her tadpoles, one by one, on her back, from the rain forest floor up into trees as high as 100 feet. After hoisting her babes to the treetops, the frog then finds individual pools of water in leaves for each tadpole, setting up safe and individualized nurseries. That’s not the end of her super-mom duties. The mother strawberry poison arrow frog then feeds each of her young with her own unfertilized eggs over the course of six to eight weeks, thus allowing these tadpoles to grow into young frogs without having to eat each other. What, eggs again?

Suddenly my mom doesn’t seem so bad! Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers who read here!

Source:Katherine Gammon@ LiveScience

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174 thoughts on “And You Thought YOUR Mom was Weird…”

  1. Liked by 1 person

    1. President Trump:

      “Tornado Watch in Iowa. For safety of our great Patriots, we have been asked to delay or cancel today’s sold out Rally. I am near the Palm Beach Airport, ready to go, but we are on hold because of the very bad weather in Iowa. Please Seek Shelter or Safe Haven!” pic.twitter.com/ZKcnoH7QmK

      — Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) May 13, 2023

      Liked by 1 person

    2. It is still very cloudy and stormy around me and especially to the east/southeast, which is that direction and, considering all the damage done in NE yesterday only a couple of hours away, it wouldn’t surprise me if they cancel it. Hmmm….wonder how ConRon’s family picnic appearance is going???

      Liked by 1 person

        1. I’d wait, if I were you. I’m hoping to get out and mow again, at least get the front yard done today. But there is a dark cloud moving thru above at the moment…..I’m getting to head out shortly, tho.

          Liked by 1 person

  4. I kind of wish we would get a little bit of wind to hopefully dry out the grass a bit more so I can go ahead and mow today. It’s still too wet right now since it rained again late this morning.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. hubby was out mowing since lunch time. I stay inside when he mows the first few times–there’s always rocks and gravel in the first few mows…and they fly!

      Liked by 1 person

  5. “Poll: Most Democrats In Favor Of Welcoming Immigrants Into Someone Else’s Neighborhood”
    POLITICS · May 13, 2023 · BabylonBee.com

    “U.S. — A new USA Today poll has found that an overwhelming majority of Democrats are in favor of welcoming immigrants from Central and South America into other people’s neighborhoods.

    The study showed that Democrats are very pro-immigration as long as the immigration is to areas very far away from themselves.

    “We found that 92% of liberal Americans are ‘strongly in favor’ of as many immigrants as possible moving into the country, as long as they never have to see them or deal with them in person,” said the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Henry Bollickson. “When we posed the question of whether immigrants should be welcomed with open arms into other people’s areas, Democrats were strongly in favor of that idea. But when we posed the question of whether immigrants should be welcomed into one’s own city, neighborhood, or home, the number of Democrats in favor of that idea went down dramatically.”

    “This just goes to show that Democrats are some of the most loving and welcoming people, as long as other people are doing the, you know, loving and welcoming.”

    At publishing time, sources had also confirmed that a majority of Democrats are in favor of raising taxes to pay for social programs, as long as the taxes are paid by other people.”
    —————–
    “Congress Raises Debt Ceiling To Infinity Million Billion +1 No Takebacks”
    POLITICS · May 12, 2023 · BabylonBee.com

    “WASHINGTON, D.C. — House and Senate lawmakers have reportedly come to a deal to avoid defaulting on the national debt by raising the debt ceiling to infinity million billion +1. The deal was later amended with a “no takebacks” clause to shield it from further debate.

    “The debt crisis has been averted,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer proudly. “This is now the future’s problem. I’m going on vacation!”

    Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a centrist Democrat, reportedly held out until the eleventh hour before amending the proposed debt increase with a “no takebacks” clause.

    “We’re going to be right back here in a year if we allow takebacks,” he said. “This should be a bipartisan effort. Stamp, doublestamp and no erasies!”

    Manchin then ran back to his senate desk which he previously declared a safe zone from further debate.

    Experts believe the deal will have ramifications on political dealings for years to come. According to sources, Republican lawmakers are looking into implementing “no take-back” legislation to protect the 2nd amendment.

    At publishing time, the government borrowed more money it never intended to pay back.”

    Liked by 1 person

  6. “Biden Says $10 Million Payment From Romania To His Cat Is Totally Legitimate”
    POLITICS · May 12, 2023 · BabylonBee.com

    “WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a tense exchange with the press today, President Biden defended himself against charges of corruption and bribery, claiming that a recent $10 million payment to his cat Willow is “totally legitimate” and there’s nothing weird about it at all.

    “Listen, folks, it’s none of my business what deals my cat is making around the world. I know nothing about it,” said the President. “Willow is the smartest cat I know, and it doesn’t surprise me to hear that he provided a totally real and legitimate and non-corrupt service to the Romanian government in exchange for millions of dollars which I’m sure was fully deserved and that I’ve never seen. I’m not corrupt. Do you think I’d be President if I was corrupt? Come on, man!”

    Sources say the White House press pool let out a collective sigh of relief, happy that their concerns were so decisively laid to rest. “When the President says he did nothing wrong, you have to believe him,” said recent Georgetown grad and White House Correspondent Krissy Persimmons. “That’s just science.”

    Journalists were also told not to worry about the $3 million Ukrainian payment to Biden’s dog Major, the $12 million Chinese payment to Dr. Jill, or the dead hooker found in the trunk of Biden’s Corvette.

    At publishing time, the White House cat was found dead of a self-inflicted hit-and-run.”

    Liked by 1 person

  9. how ridiculous! ultra maggot mentions “white supremacy” as the worst it’s ever been and right on cue…the fib shows up.

    everybody is saying the same thing in the replies—track them back to where they assembled–there will be clues–these are freakin feds!!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Liked by 1 person

  11. Hey! I made it back before you signed off! I wanted to at least get the front done and I did, albeit while getting a little wet…..it started misting about half-way thru and I put the pedal down. I got ‘er done but I was pretty wet by the time I got the mower back in the shed.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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