Prospective evolutionary drivers of allocare in wild belugas
Abstract Allocare, investment in offspring from non-parents, poses an evolutionary enigma. While the fitness trade-offs driving parental care are universal, alloparents may be driven by kin selection, reciprocation, the need to acquire parenting skills (‘learning-to-parent’), an indiscriminate attra...
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crbrillap:10.1163/1568539x-bja10094 2024-05-19T07:38:16+00:00 Prospective evolutionary drivers of allocare in wild belugas Aubin, Jaclyn A. Michaud, Robert Vander Wal, Eric 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10094 https://brill.com/view/journals/beh/158/8-9/article-p727_4.xml https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/beh/158/8-9/article-p727_4.xml unknown Brill Behaviour volume 158, issue 8-9, page 727-756 ISSN 0005-7959 1568-539X journal-article 2021 crbrillap https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10094 2024-05-02T06:50:16Z Abstract Allocare, investment in offspring from non-parents, poses an evolutionary enigma. While the fitness trade-offs driving parental care are universal, alloparents may be driven by kin selection, reciprocation, the need to acquire parenting skills (‘learning-to-parent’), an indiscriminate attraction towards infants (‘natal attraction’), or a combination of multiple drivers. Among belugas ( Delphinapterus leucas ), allocare has been reported in wild and captive populations, but its underlying mechanisms remain untested. Using over 1800 focal observations, we quantified alloparental associations in St. Lawrence Estuary (SLE) belugas to determine whether the learning-to-parent and natal attraction hypotheses are consistent with patterns of allocare in this population. We found that subadults showed little interest in providing allocare and that alloparental investment remained constant across offspring age classes. As the observed patterns of allocare are inconsistent with both the learning-to-parent and natal attraction hypotheses, allocare in SLE belugas is likely driven by kin selection, reciprocation, or a combination thereof. Article in Journal/Newspaper Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas Brill Behaviour 158 8-9 727 756 |
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Abstract Allocare, investment in offspring from non-parents, poses an evolutionary enigma. While the fitness trade-offs driving parental care are universal, alloparents may be driven by kin selection, reciprocation, the need to acquire parenting skills (‘learning-to-parent’), an indiscriminate attraction towards infants (‘natal attraction’), or a combination of multiple drivers. Among belugas ( Delphinapterus leucas ), allocare has been reported in wild and captive populations, but its underlying mechanisms remain untested. Using over 1800 focal observations, we quantified alloparental associations in St. Lawrence Estuary (SLE) belugas to determine whether the learning-to-parent and natal attraction hypotheses are consistent with patterns of allocare in this population. We found that subadults showed little interest in providing allocare and that alloparental investment remained constant across offspring age classes. As the observed patterns of allocare are inconsistent with both the learning-to-parent and natal attraction hypotheses, allocare in SLE belugas is likely driven by kin selection, reciprocation, or a combination thereof. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Aubin, Jaclyn A. Michaud, Robert Vander Wal, Eric |
spellingShingle |
Aubin, Jaclyn A. Michaud, Robert Vander Wal, Eric Prospective evolutionary drivers of allocare in wild belugas |
author_facet |
Aubin, Jaclyn A. Michaud, Robert Vander Wal, Eric |
author_sort |
Aubin, Jaclyn A. |
title |
Prospective evolutionary drivers of allocare in wild belugas |
title_short |
Prospective evolutionary drivers of allocare in wild belugas |
title_full |
Prospective evolutionary drivers of allocare in wild belugas |
title_fullStr |
Prospective evolutionary drivers of allocare in wild belugas |
title_full_unstemmed |
Prospective evolutionary drivers of allocare in wild belugas |
title_sort |
prospective evolutionary drivers of allocare in wild belugas |
publisher |
Brill |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10094 https://brill.com/view/journals/beh/158/8-9/article-p727_4.xml https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/beh/158/8-9/article-p727_4.xml |
genre |
Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas |
genre_facet |
Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas |
op_source |
Behaviour volume 158, issue 8-9, page 727-756 ISSN 0005-7959 1568-539X |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539x-bja10094 |
container_title |
Behaviour |
container_volume |
158 |
container_issue |
8-9 |
container_start_page |
727 |
op_container_end_page |
756 |
_version_ |
1799477686329933824 |