How can you tell if a salmon has good parents?

The little baby salmon is born, hangs out around the eggsacks, eats the remaining eggsacks

for a little bit of extra energy, and then just at the right time starts moving its way

down the river.

While going down the river, sometimes in anticipation of flowing water, it will turn itself backwards

and allow itself to be carried using less energy.

When it will end up in the ocean, it will then spend a year and a half to three or five

years in the ocean until it's ready to spawn, and then it will go all the way back to the

very place it was born and lay its eggs.

Of course, this is not an example of good parenting because the baby salmon never meets

its parents.

It knows how to do all of this on its own.

And it's you out.

It's Nick in Fukuoka, Japan, and this is a special archived episode of Akimbo.

Salmon, of course, have an extraordinary life cycle, and they evolved to have this life cycle.

They evolved to be born with the innate knowledge, the instinct to go do all of these steps

without being taught them, no parents, their siblings don't show them how, they just know.

Most of the time, though, that's not how human beings do their stuff.

A newborn baby placed in a basket left in the jungle will perish.

You can't even count on a three year old figuring out how to make his own way through

the world.

Kids learn almost everything they know how to do, from the adults and older siblings

...