Lions, grizzly bears or sea bass are considered the worst fathers due to their willingness to kill or eat their young.
Lion
Male lions are quite irresponsible for feeding and taking care of cubs.
Male lions who have just taken over as leader usually kill all the cubs of the previous leader. The lion father usually spends most of the day lying in the shade, waiting for the lioness to bring her food. The female lion is in charge of hunting and taking care of the cubs while the male's job is to protect the territory from other herds and scavengers like hyenas. Male lions are always the first to eat their prey and leave only a few pieces of meat for the rest of the members, including its cubs. If conditions are harsh, the lion leader will let his wife and children starve to death first.
North American grizzly bear
Rarely does any species in the animal world eat its young before reaching the end of the road, but male grizzly bears will. They are extremely territorial, can defend a range of up to 2,400 km, and are opportunistic hunters, willing to kill and eat anything that enters their territory, including their own offspring. This means that mother bears must not only provide food and teach their cubs to survive on their own, but also make sure the cubs never stray into their father's territory.
Striped bass
Even species with a protective nature like the male sea bass can easily eat their own young. That behavior occurs after most of the juveniles have swam away and only a few remain. The father suddenly stopped protecting the young from predators and devoured all the slow-swimming young fish as a reward for himself after helping the healthy ones survive.
Sand goby
Sand gobies often choose to eat the largest eggs in the brood
Similarly, the male sand goby is constantly guarding its eggs from predators, but even when plenty of food is available, it still eats about a third of the brood. The study revealed that the brood goby decides which eggs to keep or eat because size plays a role. Male sand gobys tend to eat the largest eggs. In many species, large juveniles mean a higher chance of survival, thereby being the most protective member of the family. But the sand goby knows the biggest egg needs the longest incubation time. Eating the egg that took the longest to hatch will allow it to get out and return to mating as soon as possible.
Killer Bugs
The father killer beetle is tasked with protecting the eggs until the eggs hatch. Its strategy is mainly to eat the fruit on the edge of the egg sac, most likely to fall victim to the parasitic wasp. This self-defense tactic is so effective that killer bugs can completely avoid any potential parasites in the lab. Scientists believe that eating eggs is not only the only way to defend against parasites, but also provides nutrients for the male killer beetle when it cannot crawl to find food.
