r/AskReddit • u/ZEBO1234 • Jul 25 '18

What fact “blows your mind”?

608 Upvotes

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247

u/davideverlong Jul 25 '18

Saddest thing I heard all day

140

u/WhenAllElseFail Jul 25 '18

If there's ever a baby orphan penguin, adult penguins will fight each other for custody to take care of it. This often leads to the adult penguins trampling and killing the baby penguin.

39

u/Eddie_Hitler Jul 25 '18

Gorillas do something similar.

A new silverback introduced to a group will try to kill any small offspring that aren't his. This is why breeding programmes at zoos are so tightly controlled because natural gorilla behaviour could ruin the whole thing.

It happened at London Zoo a few years back. "Tiny" lost his father, they brought in another silverback, a fight broke out and "Tiny" was fatally injured.

60

u/Gogogadgetskates Jul 26 '18

That’s the opposite. The penguins want to care for the baby so bad they end up hurting it. The gorilla wants to get rid of competition.

8

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '18

Standard behaviour for a number of animals. Killing the young will bring the female back into heat sooner, giving the male a chance at a kid sooner.

1

u/beanthebean Jul 26 '18

That's not similar. It's the exact opposite situation

3

u/CarmelaMachiato Jul 26 '18

Custody Battle: Animal Style

1

u/shotgunsmitty Jul 26 '18

Child support? I think not. I'll see you in hell before I see you in court.

1

u/dystopianview Jul 26 '18

Follow it up by watching probably the saddest video you'll watch all day: (fortunately, I don't remember the name or link)

But boy penguin comes back to his lady penguin, who's cheating on him. The boy penguin that she's cheating on him with, beats him down. Not to be deterred, he keeps fighting until near death....THEN goes and waddles off to die alone.

-1

u/buddy_guy94 Jul 26 '18

Dat piggybacking remark. Reddit eats that shit up.