From blood-sucking ants to self-sacrificing
spiders, here are 9 worst parents found in the animal kingdom. Number 9 Dracula Ant
Adetomyrma venatrix is an endangered ant species endemic to Madagascar. It’s one of the oddest parents on this list,
mainly due to a gruesome behavior that involves sucking the blood of its young. Hence why this ant species is also known as
the Dracula ant. After the queen gives birth to new larvae,
she and the workers, which are blind, will chew minuscule holes in them. Then they’ll suck out their haemolymph,
a circulatory fluid equivalent to blood in mammals. This only weakens the larvae but doesn’t
kill them. The practice is sometimes described as ‘non-destructive
cannibalism’ Researchers aren’t sure why it happens, but it does fall in line with
the social behavior of ants which involves transferring fluids to each other. Number 8 Harp Seals
The harp seal is native to the Arctic Ocean and the most northern parts of the Atlantic
Ocean. For the first 12 to 14 days after giving birth
to their pups, harp seals are very dedicated mothers. During the nursing period, they don’t hunt
and lose over 6 pounds per day feeding their young. However, this period ends abruptly and the
mother will abandon the pup on the ice and return to promiscuous mating. In order to conserve body fat, the pup becomes
sedentary after it’s left to fend for itself, for a period of about two weeks. This can reduce their body weight by half
and leaves them vulnerable to predators such as polar bears. Almost 30 per cent of harp seal pups die within
their first year of life, with much of this attributed to their early abandonment and
lack of mobility on land. Number 7 Black Eagle
Black eagles are certainly ruthless parents and, out of their young, only the strong survive. Although squabbles in the nest are frequent
among eagle species, the black eagle mother actually allows her chicks to kill each other. Instead of intervening to break up the conflict,
the mother allows the stronger chick to kill its weaker siblings. By doing so, the mother ensures that she doesn’t
have to care for the weaker birds that have less chances of surviving. Number 6 Lion
Lionesses are fiercely defensive of their young and aren’t typically regarded as bad
parents of the animal world. However, the dangers of the savannah and the
social dynamics of the lion pride means that about 80% of cubs don’t live past the age
of two. Even though hunting is typically done by the
females, the dominant male in the pride is always the first to eat from a fresh kill,
often leaving only scraps for the rest. The male’s job is to protect the pride from
rival lions or scavengers like hyenas. As the dominant male ages, he’ll face fierce
challengers for his position in the pride. The cubs are usually the ones most affected
by these power struggles. Whenever one or more new males successfully
take control of a pride, they’ll oust the previous males and kill all of the existing
young cubs. The mothers are often helpless to keep it
from happening and become spectators to their young being butchered. It’s believed the new males do this because
the females don’t become fertile or receptive until their cubs mature or die. There are cases, however, when several mothers
may band together to defend their young against a usurping male. Number 5 Cuckoo
Many cuckoo species practice something called brood parasitism, meaning that they’ll abandon
their offspring and trick other birds into raising them. Females will lay their eggs in other birds’
nests and use several deception tactics to get out of parenting duties. They have secretive and fast-laying behaviors
which may also involve luring host birds away from their nests. Females sometimes specialize and lay eggs
which closely resemble those of their chosen hosts, or cryptic eggs, which are dark in
color, in contrast to those of the host. This helps hide them in darker nests. The cuckoo chick usually hatches first and
grows faster than the others in the nest. It will often force the other younglings out,
thus increasing its chances of survival. Number 4 Panda
The giant panda has been the subject of numerous conservation efforts, which have contributed
to the recent transition of their status from endangered to vulnerable. Some reports seem to indicate that their numbers
in the wild have increased and that there are close to 2,000 pandas living in Central
China, in the Sichuan region but also in the neighboring Gansu and Shaanxi. Conservationists have had some success with
captive panda breeding, after a long process of trial and error. Attempts to get pandas to mate have included
showing them videos of pandas mating as well as giving the males Viagra. In 2009, Chinese scientists confirmed the
birth of the first giant panda cub successfully conceived through artificial insemination,
using frozen sperm. In 2014, the announcement of a rare birth
of panda triplets came out of China. Despite these successes in captivity, the
situation is still pretty grim for panda cubs in the wild. About half of all panda females give birth
to twins. It’s believed that, since the mother doesn’t
store fat, she doesn’t produce enough milk to take care of both offspring. What this means is that she’ll choose to
take care of the stronger cub, leaving the other to die of starvation. The father plays no role in raising the cub. Number 3 Burying Beetle
The burying beetle has specialized antennae which enable it to detect an animal carcass,
usually a small bird or a mouse, from a long distance. After finding a carcass, competing pairs fight
each other, males versus males and females versus females, and those that emerge victorious
get to keep it. The beetles then dig a hole under the carcass
and begin to bury it. They cover it in secretions to slow down its
decay and to prevent the smell of rotting flesh from attracting competition. After the carcass has been buried, the female
lays its eggs on the soil around it. The larvae hatch after a few days and move
into a pit in the carcass that the parents have created for them. At this point the larvae are capable of feeding
themselves, but their parents may also feed them as a result of begging. The parents digest the flesh they ate off
the carcass, regurgitate it then feed it to the larvae in liquid form. So far, burying beetles may seem like ideal
parents. However, that’s true only for the larvae
that don’t beg too much - or for those that don’t fall under their parents’ brutal
form of population control. In order to ensure that there’s enough food
for everyone the parents may practice infanticide. They’ll essentially kill their young if
there isn’t enough carcass to go around. The most successful parents achieve a balance
between the number of offspring they produce and the size that they mature into. If they have too many, they’ll probably
be underfed and it’s unlikely that they’ll survive. If the young are too large, then it means
the beetles could have had more of them. Number 2 Barnacle Geese
The barnacle goose belongs to the Branta genus, which means geese species that have largely
black plumage. These animals mainly breed on the Arctic Islands,
in the North Atlantic. They build their nests on high cliffs, out
of the reach of predators like polar bears and Arctic Foxes. Much like all geese species, the adults don’t
bring food to the young. Instead, the newly hatched goslings come down
from the cliffs, under the parents’ supervision. However, they are roughly three days old and
unable to fly. This basically means that they jump off the
cliffs and plummet towards the jagged rocks below. Their feathers and very light weight offer
some protection but many die from the impact. The noise made by the parent geese during
this time attracts predators, which means that even those that survive aren’t safe. Additionally, foxes are known to stalk the
young, as parent geese lead them to feeding areas. Number 1 African Social Spider
Stegodyphus dumicola, also known as the African social spider, lives in large colonies or
family groups, in Central and South America. Only about 40% percent of the females have
the chance to reproduce as they mature at a slower rate than the males. The other females, dubbed ‘virgin spiders’
assist their sisters with childcare. This is probably due to the great deal of
interbreeding that takes place among African social spider groups. Since so much genetic material is shared,
it’s possible that the virgin females assume the offspring are their own. Childcare often involves the females allowing
the young to eat them alive. As the eggs begin to hatch, the mothers and
virgin females produce a nourishing fluid, which is essentially made up of the prey their
bodies have broken down. They feed the fluid to the offspring by mouth. By the end of this grueling process the female
spider’s body will begin to liquefy, having exhausted almost all of its resources. At this point, the young will crawl onto the
female and start eating her. This process of mother-eating, called matriphagy,
is very rare in nature as is the cooperative breeding that the female African social spiders
engage in. The males of the species survive less than
a month after mating and aren’t involved in childcare. Thanks for watching! Which do you think are the worst parents in
the animal kingdom? Let us know in the comment section below!
