Darryl Corry, age 11, of Victoria, B.C., Canada, for his question:

Why do guppies eat their young?

Guppies are not very smart fellows. They show little or no affection for other creatures and have no feelings of responsibility for their offspring. In the world of nature, these three character traits often go together. Most fish lay swarms of eggs and leave them to take their chances in the hungry sea. The mother guppy gives birth to live babies, but she, too, has no concern for her children.

She gives no sign that she realizes the tiny mites are her babies, and the unfortunate little mother may not be smart enough to know that they belong to her. However, she does feel hunger, and all her life she has satisfied her appetite by snapping up small creatures moving through the water. The newborn guppies are small creatures moving through the water, so the hungry mother thinks that they are food. She grabs them if she can and gobbles them up, never knowing that they are her own little ones.