On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 9:55 PM, (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:
> This email was sent from shadowgard.com which does not allow forwarding of emails via email lists. Therefore the sender's email address (xxxxxx@shadowgard.com) has been replaced with a dummy one. The original message follows:
>
> On 12 May 2016 at 12:03, Jeffrey Schwartz wrote:
>
>> On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 11:51 AM, Phil Pugliese (via tml list)
>> <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> > That's for sure, but then don't the hivers just dump their offspring
>> > out into the wilds & just wait & see how many survive? (Talk about
>> > 'free-ranging' children!)
>> >
>>
>> Only on worlds where there's established Hiver communities where the
>> children can , at the right age, rejoin the community. On worlds where
>> there isn't an established community, the Hivers fumigate their ships
>> to make sure none of the offspring accidentally escape the ship and
>> are abandoned.
>>
>> Yes, _fumigate_.
>>
>> As in poison every one of them.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R/K_selection_theory
>
>
> Humans, Vargr, Aslan and K'Kree are all K-selection species. They all
> have small numbers of offspring and a lot of parental involvement is
> trying get them to survive.
>
> Hivers are an r-selection species. Lots of offspring, almost no
> parental investment until they are out of the larval stage.
>
> Expecting Hivers to care about larva is just as unreasonable as
> expecting any of the K-selection species to *not* care about their
> offspring.
>

Except...

They really do care about the larva. sort of.
The idea of a larva coming into adolescence and NOT having a community
is terrifying to them, and abdication of being a responsible parent.
"My baby.... left all alone on a world where it will ALWAYS be alone,
never to learn to speak or be a person... and it was my fault, because
I let the little larva sneak off the ship."

Ok, that makes sense, is a 'caring parent'.

".... so ever since then, I've fumigated to make sure none of the
little buggers get off the ship alive"
And that is the alien part.