Lecture 14

Question 1

parental behavior

Answer 1

behaviors performed in relation to one’s offspring that contribute directly to the survival of fertilized eggs or offspring that have left the body of the female

Question 2

maternal behavior

Answer 2

parental behavior performed by the mother or another female

Question 3

paternal behavior

Answer 3

paternal behavior performed by the father or another male

Question 4

human paternal behavior

Answer 4

• years of care and sacrifice
• alloparenting (the village)
• emotional and physical care

Question 5

perinatal and postpartum mood and anxiety disorders

Answer 5

• PNADs
• affect 1 in 7 women (fathers as well)
• extreme worry and dread
• obsessive thoughts of harming baby or self

Question 6

uniparental care

Answer 6

male (very rare) or female, one parent provides care to the offspring

Question 6

types of parental care

Answer 6

• uniparental care
• biparental care

Question 7

biparental care

Answer 7

both parents provide care to the offspring

Question 8

strawberry poison dart frog

Answer 8

• eggs laid in small pools, must stay wet and protected until they hatch
• sometimes father will urinate on the eggs to do so
• sometimes father will continue to show parental care past this point

Question 9

strawberry poison dart frog eggs hatch

Answer 9

-must be transported somewhere else
- each tadpole carried on back of a parent into the trees up into their own little pools of water
- parents must remember where they put them, feed them
- mothers lay an unfertilized egg to feed to tadpoles which contains the toxin required for poison dart frogs

Question 10

strawberry poison dart frog parenting and environmental conditions

Answer 10

depending on environmental conditions a change is seen in behavior of the parents, less available water = more parental care

Question 11

the parental care continuum

Answer 11

no parental care to substantial parental care

Question 12

example of no parental care

Answer 12

brown trout
- laying hundreds of thousands of eggs
- knowledge that a good amount of eggs will reach adulthood

Question 13

example of moderate parental care

Answer 13

nile crocodile
- babies in the mouth
- transport to water
- babies on their own

Question 14

example of substantial parental care

Answer 14

humans

Question 15

altricial

Answer 15

born or hatched in a very early stage of development
- no fur, feathers, scales
- no senses available, no seeing/hearing

Question 16

precocial

Answer 16

born or hatched at an advanced stage of development
- require little or no parental intervention to survive

Question 17

humans

Answer 17

altricial BUT with some semi-precocial traits including thermoregulation and clinging to the mother

Question 18

in 100% of mammalian species

Answer 18

mothers demonstrate maternal care

Question 19

in 3-5% of mammalian species

Answer 19

fathers demonstrate paternal care

Question 20

in ~3% of mammalian species

Answer 20

alloparents demonstrate alloparental care

Question 21

avian parental care: no care

Answer 21

• cuckoos and cowbirds, “nest parasites”
• provide no parental care
• replace eggs in the nest of another bird with their own
• other bird will foster and raise the hatchlings

Question 22

avian parental care: uniparental care

Answer 22

• hens exclusively care for chicks
• male mallee fowls build nests and incubate the eggs

Question 23

avian parental care: biparental care

Answer 23

• the most common form in birds
• equal investment in parental care
• seen in >80% of avian subfamilies

Question 24

aspects of avian parental care

Answer 24

1. nest building
2. incubation
3. brooding
4. feeding
5. protection

Question 25

who produces crop milk and where is it produced

Answer 25

males and females, in a specialized exocrine gland called the crop sac

Question 26

hormonal correlation of parental avian behavior

Answer 26

• prolactin starts to increase during ovulation and is sustained throughout incubation and early post-hatching rearing

Question 27

prolactin

Answer 27

promoting milk production/lactation, development of breasts during pregnancy

Question 28

where is prolactin primarily synthesized

Answer 28

anterior pituitary

Question 29

what does progesterone drive

Answer 29

incubation

Question 30

what behavior does an ovariectomy eliminate

Answer 30

nest building and incubation

Question 31

replacement of estrogen OR progesterone restores what

Answer 31

neither nest building or incubation

Question 32

replacement of estrogen AND progesterone restores what

Answer 32

nest building and incubation

Question 33

2 things prolactin is necessary for maintaining

Answer 33

brooding and crop sac development

Question 34

onset, maintenance, and termination of parental care in ringdoves depends on

Answer 34

primarily prolactin, in concert with estrogen and progesterone

Question 35

paternal behavior in ringdoves

Answer 35

• castrated males treated with T either show courtship behavior OR nest building (driven by behavior of female)
• unlike maternal behavior, nest-building is independent of hormonal status
• BUT prolactin is required for brooding and development of the crop sac

Question 36

prolactin and alloparenting

Answer 36

prolactin concentrations correlate with the amount of care provided to the offspring in scrub jays, levels not as high as a parent providing parental care but higher than nonhelpers

Question 38

prolactin levels and paternal behavior in songbirds

Answer 38

prolactin main hormonal correlate driving parental behavior

Question 39

neural correlates of avian parental behavior: BNST

Answer 39

• significant positive correlation between time spent in the nest and activation (For expression) in the BSTmv