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male animals kill infants of their own species?

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tali1 | 00:59 Sat 22nd Dec 2007 | Animals & Nature
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apart fom polar bears and lions what other male animals kill infants of their own species? -is there a scientific term for this animal infantcide?
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Other bears will kill babies too.
Also, a new alpha Langur monkey will swiftly dispose of all the male offspring sired by his predecessor in the troop.
There was a sequence in a recent TV nature programme where a female brown bear gave a warning to her cubs as soon as a male bear was nearby. The cubs all climbed the nearest tree while the mother lay at the foot ! When he lumbered off she gave another call and the little ones all slowly clambered down again. So not only have male bears evolved to pass on their genes, whilst eliminating cubs without, but the females have evolved to stop that happening. That's quite an evolutionary twist !
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I'm not sure about the bears but there is also another very important reason for this infanticide by the monkeys and lions; the 'shelflife' of dominance is short as it is constantly being challenged. Absence of the dependent babies brings the females in the troop/pride back in season and so speeds the gene dispersion process up.

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