Naturebang

Burying Beetles and the Politics of Parenting


Listen Later

Becky Ripley and Emily Knight tackle a topic we love to fight about: parenting. How should we raise our kids? How much love is too much?

Good parenting begins at home. And 'home', in this case, is a decomposing mouse corpse, rolled into a ball and buried 5 inches beneath the soil of the forest floor. Naturally. This is the home of one of nature's most diligent little parents, the black and orange Gravedigger, or Burying Beetle. The two parents team up to feed, nurture and care for their grubs until they're old enough to make it alone. But is there such a thing as too much parenting? Could a little LESS motherly (and fatherly) love, actually help the grubs be a little more self-reliant?

In the human world, we can't seem to agree on the best way to raise our babies. Across time and across cultures, there have been parenting strategies that seem bonkers to us now, while our ways of doing things might raise alarm bells elsewhere. One factor here is that humans spend a lot of time parenting; we're one of the most heavily investing parents the natural world has ever produced. But our babies are needy for a reason: it takes an awfully long time to make a human.

Featuring Rebecca Kilner, Professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Cambridge, and Dr Brenna Hassett, biological anthropologist at University College London and the author of 'Growing up Human: The Evolution of Childhood'. Produced and presented by Emily Knight and Becky Ripley.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

NaturebangBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

8 ratings


More shows like Naturebang

View all
Science Weekly by The Guardian

Science Weekly

419 Listeners

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4 by BBC Radio 4

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4

252 Listeners

More or Less: Behind the Stats by BBC Radio 4

More or Less: Behind the Stats

894 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

2,094 Listeners

All in the Mind by BBC Radio 4

All in the Mind

64 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

401 Listeners

Curious Cases by BBC Radio 4

Curious Cases

762 Listeners

Evil Genius with Russell Kane by BBC Sounds

Evil Genius with Russell Kane

369 Listeners

Sliced Bread by BBC Radio 4

Sliced Bread

142 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

2,997 Listeners

The world, the universe and us by New Scientist

The world, the universe and us

107 Listeners

Uncharted with Hannah Fry by BBC Radio 4

Uncharted with Hannah Fry

116 Listeners

Rare Earth by BBC Radio 4

Rare Earth

11 Listeners

Oceans: Life Under Water by Crowd Network | Greenpeace UK

Oceans: Life Under Water

18 Listeners

In The News This Week (the Have I Got News For You podcast) by In The News This Week (the Have I Got News For You podcast)

In The News This Week (the Have I Got News For You podcast)

25 Listeners