Hello Phil,
It would be interesting to know exactly what you've read on Corucia.... I do not mean this in a condescending way but when I read your above post on diet, I was astonished, to put it mildly.
In answer to this particular question there are a couple of theories at work here. First, if a baby is born prematurely with defects OR if the baby was a still born, it is known that a member of a colony or circulus will actually consume that baby to remove the evidence, so to speak. In the wild Corucia do this because a dead, decomposing baby will attract predators. It is a survival instinct to protect the rest of the group from unwanted intruders that would in turn put the entire 'family' at risk.
In your case, I would suspect that something was probably wrong with the youngster to begin with. This is natures way of weeding out the sick or the vulnerable when or if needed. If your group has been together for awhile, I see no other reason for a neonate to be consumed by a second female-- &, to add, especially with the parents around.
There are alot of people that vary in their opinions on separating youngsters from an established group. I use the word 'established' very strongly... Here at the LCRC, we NEVER separate babies from the given circulus UNLESS the baby is having health issues or is not displaying certain activities (such as eating) that should be normal at a given age. If a separation must occur, we try to get the baby back with the parents as soon as possible. We strongly feel here that the family unit & Corucia society in general should be maintained whenever possible &/or practical. This benefits the offspring as well as to have the nurturing & protection of both parents & other members of the group. A baby separated from this environment doesn't thrive as he or she should & has varying degrees of stress which makes for an unhappy situation. One noteworthy example of this would be parents who have lost a baby from a miscarriage or another unfortunate occurence will often 'guard' a birthing site for days &, once here for three weeks. This is the structure that i'm trying to say is unique & should be encouraged.
I would also like to mention that with captive bred & born babies raised with their parents while in captivity, there is a distinct & tremendous difference in behavior, overall personality & disposition which is quite remarkable to observe.
Hope this helps some,
Sherri
