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What other species have don infanticide?

User RomCoo
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Final answer:

Infanticide is a behavior seen in various species such as chimpanzees, wolves, and big cats. Human-like systematic killing within a species is rarer but occurs in some wildlife scenarios. Introduced predatory species in ecosystems like New Zealand's can also engage in such destructive behaviors toward the offspring of native species.

Step-by-step explanation:

Infanticide, or the act of killing young offspring, is a behavioral trait observed in various animal species. Some mammals that show high levels of parental care and have few offspring per reproductive event are known to engage in infanticide. This includes humans, whose extensive care for their helpless young is paralleled by behaviors seen in kangaroos and pandas. Such parental care can be demanding and at times detrimental to the parent's own health.

While the deliberate and large-scale killing of one's own kind is primarily a human trait, similar aggressive behaviors are observed in the wild among species like chimpanzees, wolves, big cats, and in some cases, between ant colonies. This can extend to warfare-like behavior within a species, although it's not as common or systematic as it is in humans.

Additionally, the introduction of non-native species to ecosystems, like in New Zealand, shows how these species can become predatory to local fauna. Introduced mammals such as stoats, weasels, ferrets, and hedgehogs, not originally from the region, can prey on native birds and reptiles, exhibiting similar destructive behaviors that can include the killing of local species' offspring.

User Maxim Kamalov
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