Post-partum Depression

You're looking at the banded, gray, gooey goodness of the amphibian known as caecilians. These creatures have made headlines thanks to some ground-breaking footage taken by the folks over at BBC. Film crews worked with this mother and her brood for some time, noticing that the little ones were inexplicably growing, without any obvious source of food.

They soon found out why.

They have specialized teeth that allow them to eat their mother's flesh. You must watch the video to fully grasp the situation. It turns out that mom's flesh is nice and fatty, and she is able to regenerate it every three days, so as to keep the young ones satisfied. THAT, my friends, is parental devotion.

And once again, I am thankful that I belong to the mammalian order, in which the offspring are fed milk, not mommy's flesh. That would result in some serious post-partum depression.

Thanks for the article, Carol and Chris.

Photo source: BBC