S1E8 - Boom, Boom, Babies

The miracle of life is straightforward and simple, right? Sperm. Egg. BOOM. Babies. That's what they taught us in science school!

In actuality, it's much more complicated, as pregnancy and childbirth in the wild leave mother and embryo alike vulnerable to environmental conditions, social constraints and hypercompetitive males. In this episode, Rachel tells us the many fascinating adaptations for reproductive control in mammals, showing the incredible capacity of animals to navigate the dangers of life before it even begins.

Content Warning: sexual content, abortion, pregnancy loss, infanticide (sensitive content begins at 31:28 of the episode)

Rachel's Sources:

1. Inzani, E., Marshall, H. H., Thompson, F. J., Kalema-Zikusoka, G., Cant, M. A., & Vitikainen, E. I. (2019). Spontaneous abortion as a response to reproductive conflict in the banded mongoose. Biology Letters, 15(12). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0529


2. Feldhamer, G. A., Merritt, J. F., Krajewski, C., Rachlow, J. L., & Stewart, K. M. (2020). Mammalogy: Adaptation, diversity, ecology. Johns Hopkins University Press.


3. Bartoš, L., Dušek, A., Bartošová, J., Pluháček, J., & Putman, R. (2020). How to escape male infanticide: Mechanisms for avoiding or terminating pregnancy in mammals. Mammal Review, 51(1), 143–153. https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12219


4. Heideman, P. D. (1989). Delayed development in Fischer’s pygmy fruit bat, Haplonycteris fischeri, in the Philippines. Reproduction, 85(2), 363–382. https://doi.org/10.1530/jrf.0.0850363

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