Very well written stuff, the part about the yukkuri facing enemies in their own nests was great. They look so carefree and stupid but every day is a literal battle to survive
2 month from the last post, I hope he will be back soon.
"Baby yukkuri getting stepped on and crushed by their parent"
Because it mostly happens in the nest, this case is rarely observed by humans. But among yukkuri, this is quite a common cause of death.In addition to it:
- Just turning their body around is already hard enough and took much time.
- When they concentrate on one thing, their brain can't process anything else.
- When they have more than 3 children, many can't get a good grasp on the total number.
With all those reasons, it's not surprising that in their childhood period, the biggest danger they faced is to be killed by their own parents' carelessness.Yukkuri, especially baby yukkuri, love to do skinship in the form of rub-rub. For that reason, they have the instinct to approach their parent as soon as they can walk on their own. Parent yukkuri is then faced with the danger of stepping on their children if they move their body carelessly.Adult yukkuri can grow to 200 times the weight of a baby yukkuri. Just by shifting a little bit of their weight they can crush a baby yukkuri.So, although this kind of death-by-oops looks stupid, it could probably be a feature to ensure the survival of yukkuri as a whole.But this death caused by their failed design also has a positive meaning for their life in the wild.
First of all, this is a way to naturally reduce the number of children down to what they can manage. In addition, by witnessing their siblings getting killed in this accidental manner, they will learn that "we are weak," and "we can lose our life through such simple things."
By understanding danger and enemies, they will learn to avoid it. This way of thought is imperative for a yukkuri to survive. They have faced that fact even inside their own home and this will be their training before going to the world outside.Moreover, because of their bloated body shape, they have a small field of view. They're especially bad in seeing close distance. For this reason, they find it difficult to see baby yukkuri close to their feet.