Baby Ducks at the Mirage

[crubfrush]

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To aggravate the situation, the other adult ducks were constantly nipping at the little guys.

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Does anyone know the evolutionary purpose of adult males picking at or killing their own offspring?

It seems like it could be selecting for toughness or whatever, but there are many animals where the male just eats his own kids, so it's not like it's really weeding out the weaklings, it's more or less random who gets eaten.

BTW, I [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] ducks and this thread is making me sad.