five stars for actually making me feel bad for a merciless killing machine. a badass predator getting wrecked by babies until he's too tired to even slither... that snake probably went home and just stared at the ceiling all night long. wife cobra all reaches over in the dark, he sighs and turns away
The difference is that a 50% attrition rate in the wild means a mother is doing really well. People don't have to struggle to get food, not get eaten by giant wombats, or otherwise stay alive. By allowing offspring to experience risk, the cubs are getting a sort of inoculation against future dangers. Helicopter parents in nature would end up with non-functional children (which isn't that far off from human life, really).