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Species that exhibit parental care after the birth of their offspring have the potential to overcome the sex differences in parental investment (the amount of energy that each parent contributes per offspring) and lead to a reversal in sex roles. [4] The following are examples of male mate choice (sex role reversal) across several taxa.
A mating system is a way in which a group is structured in relation to sexual behaviour. The precise meaning depends upon the context. With respect to animals, the term describes which males and females mate under which circumstances.
In biology, offspring are the young creation of living organisms, produced either by sexual or asexual reproduction. Collective offspring may be known as a brood or progeny . This can refer to a set of simultaneous offspring, such as the chicks hatched from one clutch of eggs , or to all offspring produced over time, as with the honeybee .
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.
Females that mate with more than one male obtain the aid of both and as a result of all three parents providing food and care to the offspring there is an increase in the survival of their young. The amount of help is determined based on mating share and paternity share. (Mating Systems, p 275)
Animals with few offspring can devote more resources to the nurturing and protection of each individual offspring, thus reducing the need for many offspring. On the other hand, animals with many offspring may devote fewer resources to each individual offspring; for these types of animals it is common for many offspring to die soon after birth ...
A study on the association of alpha males and females during the non-breeding season in wild Capuchin monkeys examined whether alpha males are the preferred mate for females and, secondly, whether female-alpha status and relationship to the alpha-male can be explained through the individual characteristics and or social network of the female. [4]
In species that use the XY sex-determination system, parthenogenetic offspring have two X chromosomes and are female. In species that use the ZW sex-determination system the offspring genotype may be one of ZW (female), [28] [29] ZZ (male), or WW (non-viable in most species, [31] but a fertile, [dubious – discuss] viable female in a few, e.g ...