gian @lemmy.grys.ittoscience@lemmy.world•The new science of death: ‘There’s something happening in the brain that makes no sense’English
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6 months agoAnimals that wander off to die wouldn’t be more successful at breeding or survival.
Not directly, but they are more successful in preserving their relatives.
A corpse in the den could attract predators or scavengers and could bring diseases. If the dying animal wander off, the corpse will be found far away from the den so its offspring has a chance to not be found from predators and scavengers and that a disease don’t kill/cripple them.
The problem is not how long they live but that they don’t take care of the offspring, so every octopus need to learn everything from scratch again.