This can occur either with other animals in their own species or animals outside of it.īrood parasites are the absentee parents of the animal world. From an evolutionary perspective, the brood parasites are able to expend less energy raising their own young by tricking or physically forcing other animals to rear them instead. "They're effectively outsourcing the costs of parenthood, which I'm sure most of your readers can identify with," Dr. Claire Spottiswoode, a professor at the University of Cape Town who studies avian (bird) brood parasites, told Salon. And if their unwilling hosts are lucky, some or all of the host's own offspring will survive. Many of them never meet their children, and their children never meet their moms. Known as brood parasites, these animals force other species to take care of their young. Yet there are entire species of animals, from birds in the air and fish in the water to insects crawling on the ground, that have evolved to raise their children in precisely this manner. Who wants to be a deadbeat parent? For that matter, who could be so heartless as to kill another parent's young just so their own can be raised in their place? Perhaps the only thing more inconceivable than experiencing such a trauma is perpetrating it. I don't have kids, but I imagine that being forced to unknowingly raise someone else's children - either in addition to your own or after yours have been murdered - would be at the top of every parent's list of nightmare scenarios.
0 kommentar(er)
