Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Kavanau (1987) was the first to find that unique bi-parental care seen in modern birds probably evolved from extinct birds. They developed the ability to provide protection, escorting, nurturing and egg guarding abilities for their young. Evolution of homeothermy and flight most likely occurred in bi-parental birds with precocial chicks.
In birds, this parental care system is generally attributed to the ability of male birds to engage in most parental behaviours, with the exception of egg-laying. Due to their endothermy and small size at birth, there is a huge pressure for infant birds to grow up quickly to prevent energy loss.
Parental investment, in evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology, is any parental expenditure (e.g. time, energy, resources) that benefits offspring. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Parental investment may be performed by both males and females (called biparental care ), females alone ( exclusive maternal care ) or males alone ( exclusive paternal care ).
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] This encompasses behaviors that aid in the evolutionary success of the offspring and parental investment , which is a measure of expenditure (time, energy, etc.) exerted by the parent in an ...
In contrast to the large clutch sizes found in many bird species with biparental care, bats typically produce single offspring, which may be a limitation related to lack of male help. It has been suggested, though not without controversy, that paternal care is the ancestral form of parental care in birds. [9]
In birds, biparental care is the most common, because reproductive success directly depends on the parents' ability to feed their chicks. Two parents can feed twice as many young, so it is more favorable for birds to have both parents delivering food.
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
Sibling rivalry can be mediated and/or encouraged by parents, especially in bird species. Sibling rivalry can also have a negative impact on the parent and the fitness of future offspring due to interbrood conflict which may lead to parent–offspring conflict. This conflict may force parents to exert extra energy at the expense of future broods.