Word for the day: matriphagy

When the babies are around a month old, the mother spider rolls over on her back allowing the spiderlings to clamber over her, kill her by injecting their venom and digestive enzymes into her body, and eat her. After the young gobble her up, they turn on each other and cannibalize as many of their siblings as they can before leaving their mother’s web.

Source: Research by Trine Bilde at Aarhus University, via Animals, Animals, Animals.