Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The provision of care, by either males or females, is presumed to increase growth rates, quality, and/or survival of young, and hence ultimately increase the inclusive fitness of parents. [2] [3] [4] In a variety of vertebrate species (e.g., about 80% of birds [5] and about 6% of mammals), [6] both males and females invest heavily in their ...
The act of eating one's own offspring, or filial cannibalism, may be an adaptive behaviour for a parent to use as an extra source of food. Parents may eat part of a brood to enhance the parental care of the current brood. Alternatively, parents may eat the whole brood to cut their losses and improve their future reproductive success. [79]
Vertebrate maternal behavior is a form of parental care that is specifically given to young animals by their mother in order to ensure the survival of the young. [1] Parental care is a form of altruism, which means that the behaviors involved often require a sacrifice that could put their own survival at risk. [1]
Authoritative parents rely on positive reinforcement and infrequent use of punishment. Parents are more aware of a child's feelings and capabilities and support the development of a child's autonomy within reasonable limits. There is a give-and-take atmosphere involved in parent-child communication, and both control and support are balanced.
Alloparental care has many benefits for the young as well as the biological parents of the young. It occurs when there is a high energetic command of the biological parents and the group living of these animals. [4] Alloparenting helps to reduce the stresses on these animals and reduce the overall energetic demands of having offspring. [4]
For many animal societies, an individual's position in the dominance hierarchy corresponds with their opportunities to reproduce. [6] In hierarchically social animals, dominant individuals may exert control over others. For example, in a herd of feral goats it is a large male that is dominant and maintains discipline and coherence of the flock.
Evidence for animal culture is often based on studies of feeding behaviors, [8] vocalizations, [4] predator avoidance, [9] mate selection, [10] and migratory routes. [11] An important area of study for animal culture is vocal learning, the ability to make new sounds through imitation. [4] Most species cannot learn to imitate sounds.
Sexual selection is an evolutionary concept that has been used to explain why, in some species, male and female individuals behave differently in selecting mates. In 1930, Ronald Fisher wrote The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, [3] in which he introduced the modern concept of parental investment, introduced the sexy son hypothesis, and introduced Fisher's principle.