RebelDad

Eric Carle, ‘Mr. Mom’ and the Truth About Pipefish

Posted on 17. Mar, 2010 by Brian Reid in Uncategorized

A few years ago, Eric Carle published a charming book called “Mister Seahorse” about all of the sea creatures in which fathers played a huge role in the whole kid thing. It is rather wonderful propaganda, though it would be an even more wonderful world if Eric Carle didn’t have to work so hard to find examples (what the heck is a “stickleback,” anyway?).

At any rate, the pipefish is one of the starring characters of “Mister Seahorse,” as it is one of the few animals in which it is the male of the species that becomes pregnant and gives birth. This seems to be very cool to my dad-centric view of the world. But new research today out of the journal Nature suggests that maybe the pipefish isn’t the best role model for human dads. As the press release delicately puts it:

The Texas A&M researchers studied consecutive broods in male Gulf pipefish to understand why some offspring survive while others do not. Their results reveal that the males who were especially fond of the females they had mated with were more likely to show a nurturing attitude toward their offspring. In almost every case, those that were not overly fond of the mother were less nurturing toward their young.

“The bottom line seems to be, if the male likes the mom, the kids are treated better,” Paczolt explains.

Sorry, Eric. We might have to cross the pipefish off of the cool-dad list.

For a more thorough explanation, here is some video about these guys …