Season 1 (2013)
← Back to season list
Episodes 10
Maternal Instinct
Mothers – all mothers – cannot help being maternal. What is this trait, this characteristic common to all mothers?
Read MoreWasp
Wasp Mammas don’t need fancy bottle warmers or breastfeeding pillows. They make sure their babies have all the nourishment they’ll need ahead of time by paralyzing caterpillars and burying them alive with their wasp eggs. That way, the little wasp babies have plenty of fresh meat when they hatch. Yum!
Read MoreCuckoo
Good babysitters are hard to find, so Mamma Cuckoos use some slight-of-wing to trick other birds into hatching and raising their young. They slip their eggs into the nests of smaller birds. When the Cuckoo chicks are born they knock those other eggs out of the way and convince their fake Mammas to feed them instead. It sure cuts down on childcare costs!
Read MoreSpider
Being a Mamma requires some sacrifice, especially if you are a Spider, Diaea egrandros. The number one priority for almost all Mammas is to make sure their babies have all the food they need to survive. And for these spiders, that means letting their babies devour them.
Read MoreCichlid Fish
Cichlid Fish Mammas store their eggs in their mouths, so that’s where Cichlid fathers have to fertilize them. Naughty! Soon after that, lots of Cichlid babies swim out and those Mammas are free to use those mouths for things like eating again.
Read MoreOil Beetle
Oil beetle larvae can trick themselves onto a bee mamma and eat all that she provides for her babies, and the babies too!
Read MorePiping Plover
The Piping Plover is an actress! Charadrius melodius pretends to be wounded in order to protect its eggs from predators.
Read More