King penguin brooding and defending a sub-Antarctic skua chick

Interspecific parental care is rare, conveys no ultimate evolutionary advantage, and is usually attributed to reproductive errors in species with analogous habitat, behaviour and diet. We report on interspecific parental care (brooding and “defence” of unrelated chick) provided by a king penguin to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Biology
Main Authors: Oosthuizen, Wessel Christiaan, De Bruyn, P.J. Nico
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Springer 2009
Subjects:
Alloparental care
Aptenodytes patagonicus
Catharacta antarctica
Interspecific adoption
Marion Island
King penguin
Parental behavior in animals
Animal behavior
Antarctic
Antarc*
Antarctica
Polar Biology
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2263/10214
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-008-0566-1
Description
Summary:Interspecific parental care is rare, conveys no ultimate evolutionary advantage, and is usually attributed to reproductive errors in species with analogous habitat, behaviour and diet. We report on interspecific parental care (brooding and “defence” of unrelated chick) provided by a king penguin to a sub-Antarctic skua chick on Marion Island, despite substantial risk of injury to the penguin due to the presence of the true parents.

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