prokopetz:

The fun thing about speculative biology is that there isn’t really an upper limit. It can always get even more horrifying.

Here, I’ll give you an example: you know how in Pokémon lore, Cubone allegedly wears its mother’s skull as a hat?

Some believe that this means Cubones have a fixed and dwindling population, because there’s necessarily at most one offspring per mother.

In fact, no such population limit exists, because Marowak – the adult form of Cubone – possesses a sacrificial “head”. A Marowak’s brain is located in a reinforced compartment within the thoracic cavity; what appears to be the head is actually a limb containing only a simple sensory ganglion, as well as the usual sense organs. The female Marowak sheds this limb shortly after its offspring hatches in order to provide a food source and protective shell for its young. The limb then regrows in a matter of weeks; during this time, the “headless” Marowak is blind and deaf, and must be cared for by its mate.

See? 100% less sad, yet 1000% more gross.