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Anonymous
>>196242
Rats and mice: When populations of mice and rats rise rapidly, the hungry and stressed survivors may kill and eat young. http://www.ratbehavior.org/infanticide.htm goes into detail about infanticide in Norway rats. This is usually directed towards newborn rats. A mother pet rat may eat her own offspring. Mothers tend to kill deformed or wounded infants, which may allow her to allocate resources to the healthy pups, which are more likely to survive. Mothers may also kill litters when they are stressed, perhaps because she perceives the environment as too hostile for pup survival, or if she cannot to rear the litter successfully. She recuperates some her energetic investment by consuming the young. Malnourished mothers, and mothers who have an abnormal birth experience, may also become infanticidal. An unrelated adult male rat may kill young to bring the mother back into oestrus sooner, so he can sire a litter of his own. Maternal aggression after the birth of a litter may reduce infanticide. Unrelated females may kill young rats to gain food and take over the nest.
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