• Question: Why do some animals(eg Insects) have sex and then kill the animal they just had sex with? i saw this on one of David Attenboroughs programs.

    Asked by themarinebiologists to Ailsa, Evan, James, Kath, Ryan on 20 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Evan Keane

      Evan Keane answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      That is strange isn’t it? I know it happens with mantises. I have no idea why it happens and I just started reading about it after reading your question and it seems that nobody really knows why they do this “sexual cannibalism”. Weird! If you are going to be a biologist maybe you can study this and find out the answer. 😀

    • Photo: Ryan Ladd

      Ryan Ladd answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      One reason might be for food! A lot of insects that do this will hide in one place for a very long time when they lay their eggs, so the mother needs all the food she can get, the male just happens to be near by!

      A more complicated answer might be that the female doesn’t want the male to breed with the other females in the area. By doing this, she ensures that she’s the only one who will have the males babies and that her genes get passed on to the next generation whilst the other females might not have any babies at all.

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