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These Adorable Hamster Dads Take Fatherhood Seriously

These Adorable Hamster Dads Take Fatherhood Seriously

60-Second Science vor 1 Jahr

Are These Hamsters the Best Dads in the Animal Kingdom?

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13:22

Most mammalian dads are pretty absent from their offspring’s lives.
That sets the Djungarian hamster apart from its fellow fathers.
These hamster dads are involved in the birth of their pups, care
for them in infancy and even provide food during weaning. They also
let the mother hamster go on cooldown walks outside of the burrow,
which professor of veterinary medicine and hamster expert Katherine
Wynne-Edwards thinks could be essential to the survival of the
species in its superharsh environment. But there’s also some
familiar mate selection at play: female Djungarian hamsters choose
to mate with males who will provide quality parental care. Follow
guest host Elah Feder’s work Recommended reading: Why Don't Bees
Celebrate Father's Day? Men Are More Prepared for Fatherhood Than
We Think E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any
questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover
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Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper,
Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was reported by Elah
Feder and co-hosted by Rachel Feltman and Elah Feder. This episode
was edited by Jeff DelViscio with fact-checking by Shayna Posses
and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.
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