Dr. Stefan Linquist, a philosopher of biology, explained why female octopuses die after they lay their eggs in a segment for CBC Radio’s Quirks and Quarks. 

To protect their eggs from predators and to ensure the young survive into adulthood, mother octopuses stop eating and hunting, he said. 

A professor in the Department of Philosophy, Linquist’s research interests include ecology, genomics, evolution, and psychology. He has a special interest in octopuses.