Are there any species in the animal kingdom, besides humans, where the maternal have the cognitive wherewithal to sacrifice themselves if it meant that their offspring would have a chance at survival.I'm not talking about matriphagy, but an actual impulsive event like throwing themselves in front of an unstoppable force. Is this unique to only people?
>>5142171
Maybe, because it doesn't make much sense to be programmed in as a survival response. If a mother animal dies the children are probably fucked anyway. Meanwhile if the mother lives she could probably just try again later. Humans can only really get away with a lot of the stupid self-destructive shit we do because of our society.
>>5142174For a mother, is the innate knowledge of knowing that in any event where they must perish their offspring have a higher chance of surviving because another person can take care of their child? As a tribal species, this makes more sense for why we might have looser self-preservative principals.
>>5142171Octopus mothers starve themselves to keep their eggs safe
>>5142173This seems kind of stupid from an evolutionary perspective. Eggs are cheap and you can always make more if you survive, and trying to protect them is not in any way guaranteed to succeed. Seems like it would be more logical to just abandon them, at least if you're up against a giant machine like that.
>>5142225It's just a dumb bird it doesn't know what is farming machinery
>>5142171Grouse do this, look up "broken-wing display"So do deer, and many other animalsWhether it's a matter of instinct or "cognitive wherewithal" is more debatable
>>5142171It might happen on rare occasions, but like >>5142174 said, it's more beneficial for the species to prioritize keeping the adults alive since they can fend for themselves better and produce more children later. Some mother animals will even sacrifice their children to survive.For example, female macropods (kangaroos, wallabies, quokkas, etc.) will fling their joeys to distract predators and escape. Contrary to popular belief, this is not a voluntary decision on their part; their pouch reflex forces them to eject their joeys when they're frightened.
>>5142278True but it should have some basic instincts that tell it what fights it can win. If it's like a rat or something, it makes sense to stand your ground, but anything bigger and it should be hardwired to flee.
