Care by one or both parents evolves when benefits to offspring outweigh costs to parents.
Care is more common in females, but exclusive paternal care occurs in seahorses and some frogs. Costs include energy and reduced future breeding. Certainty of paternity affects male care.
Care types: guarding, feeding, brooding. Cost-benefit analysis predicts who cares. Biparental care is common in birds.
Key idea: care is favoured when offspring survival benefits are high.
Care by one or both parents evolves when benefits to offspring outweigh costs to parents.
Parental Care Evolution is one of the 53 topics in Zoology & Animal Diversity. It is rated Advanced, so it suits learners who want specialist depth. Related topics in this area include Hibernation and Torpor, Life History Strategies, Insect Haplodiploidy.
Emperor penguin males incubate eggs through the Antarctic winter.
Work through the Beginner topics in Zoology & Animal Diversity first, such as Animal Kingdom, Vertebrates and Invertebrates, Sponges, then return to Parental Care Evolution. Advanced topics assume the Intermediate vocabulary.
The closest topics to Parental Care Evolution are Hibernation and Torpor, Life History Strategies, Insect Haplodiploidy, Thermoregulation in Animals. Comparing them side by side is a good way to see how the ideas connect.
Read the summary and the in-depth section, then use the quick check on the interactive lesson for Parental Care Evolution. To practise the whole of Zoology & Animal Diversity, use the Zoology & Animal Diversity quiz.
Parental Care Evolution: Care by one or both parents evolves when benefits to offspring outweigh costs to parents. Hibernation and Torpor: Reduced metabolism and body temperature allow animals to survive scarce winter food. Read both side by side and note what each one explains.
First, read the summary and write the definition in your own words. Second, read the in-depth section and note any example. Third, compare it with Hibernation and Torpor and explain the difference aloud. Finally, take the Zoology & Animal Diversity quiz and come back to this page for any question you miss.
Reduced metabolism and body temperature allow animals to survive scarce winter food.
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