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Why do rodents sometimes eat their babies2007-11-24 22:19:48

A freind's hamster gave birth. However, when he acccidentally touched the babies, the mother ate them. My friend said it had something to her detecting his scent on them. Why do hamsters (and other rodents) do this?

Answers:

It's pretty simple, the mother identifies the baby by smell. That's the only way the mother knows that it's her baby. If shes smelling her babies, and one doesn't smell like her babies, then it's not her baby. (That's what she thinks) She decides its not her baby, so it may be a foreign animal that may hurt her baby, or just an outsider from another litter, an outsider of which she cant waste her precious milk on. It's survival of the fitest, and mom must make sure she has enough milk for her babies, she can't take on the challenge of an outsider, and since the baby smells differnet, she thinks its an outsider.

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Maybe they think theyre jellybabies.

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because they are much the same as the goverment a bunch of rodents its what they do

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Birds do it to they don't like to smell humans on their young.

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usually when mothers eat their babies its because when they figure that this baby is going to slow them down and end up having a pretador come and come and eat her and the whole litter, so the mother is trying to get rid of the whole crime scene so the pretador doesnt smell it. or, the mother got carried away when eating the plasenta (i prolly didnt spell that right) and kept on eating the babies. its not his fault. that stuff just happens.

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well i think its to protect them in a way

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Basically it is to protect the babies. They think that if they don't eat them then the human will. I know it is silly because both ways.. they are gonna die. But that's just how some rodents think!