Parents use energy and time {parental investment} to bring offspring to reproductive age. Children survive better if parents protect, feed, and teach them longer. However, parents can transmit more genes if they have more children, so parental investment is in equilibrium with children number.
factors
Stable predictable environment, longevity, regular reproduction, large size, territoriality, few offspring, difficult environments, many predators, and food specialization favor more and longer parental investment.
kin
Child raising by parents and relatives is altruistic kin selection. In many societies, non-relatives raise offspring, to gain child-raising experience and to limit aggression.
insects
Societies typically have high societal investment in offspring. Insect societies have no parental investment, because adults do not directly affect offspring behavior.
Biological Sciences>Biology>Evolution>Reproduction
4-Biology-Evolution-Reproduction
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Date Modified: 2022.0224