Sea Turtles The female sea turtles deposit hundreds of eggs into sand, cover them, and depart. The hatchlings appear weeks later, independently, and head towards the sea automatically without parental care.
Most snakes Pythons would guard their eggs up to hatching but otherwise would not look after the young. The rest of the snakes would desert their newborns or eggs immediately.
Salmon They migrate thousands of miles and lay eggs in freshwater and die a short while later. Their children develop on their own, surviving on stream nutrients.
Various fish species Species such as cod, tuna, and reef fish have millions of eggs they release into the ocean, never to encounter parents, trusting in quantity to fend off predators.
Cuckoos Cuckoos deposit eggs in other birds' nests, tricking them into raising their fledglings. The cuckoo fledgling usually expels the host fledglings or eggs, being brought up by unsuspecting adoptive parents.
Queen ants. Queen ants produce thousands of eggs and barely ever look after individual offspring. The brood care is left to the worker ants, so ant mothers do not look after their offspring directly.
Queen Honey Bees. Similar to ants, queen bees lay eggs. Nurse bees attend to larvae, feeding them royal jelly or honey until they are workers or new queens.
Cane toads (and frogs) Frogs and toads deposit eggs in water and depart. Free-living tadpoles result from hatching eggs. Parental care is not offered by cane toads.
Numerous Butterflies and Moths Adult butterflies and moths deposit eggs on host plants and depart. Caterpillars emerge, eat leaves, and develop on their own.
Octopuses hatched Mother octopuses guard and clean eggs but after the hatchlings hatch, they float away as plankton with no more care, and the mother typically perishes shortly thereafter.
