It’s Not so Easy to be a Good Mother

But to earwigs, centipedes and leeches it comes natural to be a good mother

Nobody would deny that it is a heart-warming experience to see how mothers devote themselves to their children. But it is even more touching to witness how some of the so-called “lowly creatures” look after their young like, for example, spiders (and my blog on the Jamaica red-back spider, also known as the Black Widow, has already been written, but not yet made public), but also earwigs, centipedes and leeches; how they protect, defend, feed and clean the little ones.

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Suicides

The famous British-Indian geneticist J.B.S. Haldane is often quoted to have said he was quite willing to die for two siblings and 8 cousins, a statement, which is of course based on genetic relatedness, later expounded mathematically by William D. Hamilton in his studies on kin selection. Altruism and putting oneself in danger to protect or save other individuals, usually closely related ones, is not confined to humans but actually widespread in animals.

Human hairiness

Why is the “naked ape” not really naked?

Desmond Morris called the human species ”The Naked Ape” in his famous book of the same title. But even without clothes, when we are indeed naked, we are not hairless. Our entire body (with the notable exceptions of the insides of our hands and feet, the area around the nipples, and the lips) is covered with hairs.