Playing the numbers game

THE mother of the octuplets born recently in the US has her hands full.

For once, the media circus may actually be a help; she and her babies have celebrity billing. That should bring advertising contracts and financial support. Science will also benefit; psychologists and child development researchers will be banging on her door.

In the animal kingdom, where multiple births are the norm, mothers get no special treatment. Animals have large broods for insurance reasons; a predator may take a youngster or two but is unlikely to destroy an entire brood. Likewise, food shortages hit the weaker offspring first, leaving the scarce resources for stronger siblings. Then there’s the prospect of winning the biological Lotto; if conditions are good and several young survive to breeding age, the genes of the lucky grandparents will be spread far and wide in a new dynasty.