Male members of the marine snail species Solenosteira macrospira have it tough . Not only do they take on childcare duties , they also have to handle for the materialization produced by other dads . To make matter worse , babe snails cannibalise their siblings while they ’re still embryos , a behaviour the dads are incapacitated to forbid .
Adding insult to injury , the notoriously promiscuous female snails are far from the picture — off mating with as many as a dozen different males .
Writing in Wired , Tanya Lewisdescribeswhy males carry around egg capsules that stop only 25 % of their own materialisation :
After mating with their net male , females foist their parental hodgepodge of orchis onto the shell of their unsuspecting partner , who carries the sack of babies around and keeps them moist and safe until they concoct one month subsequently . Males often carry the egg capsules of multiple females , which almost entirely cover their shell ( above ) .
The escargot daddies weather their burden despite losing weight for their pains … The species may be the only one known where male expend so much effort to care for offspring of which only a fraction are their own .
Why they do so is unclear , but one reason might be to impress the noblewoman with their childcare skill . Or , it might just be the price they yield for have to pair .
you’re able to read the intact report atEcology Letters .
Image via Peter Marko / Wired .
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