首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Single mums are better at raising their kids than two parents—at least in the bird world. Mother zebra finches have to work hard
Single mums are better at raising their kids than two parents—at least in the bird world. Mother zebra finches have to work hard
admin
2013-01-20
65
问题
Single mums are better at raising their kids than two parents—at least in the bird world. Mother zebra finches have to work harder and raise fewer chicks on their own, but they also produce more attractive sons who are more likely to get a mate.
The finding shows that family conflict is as important an evolutionary driving force as ecological factors such as hunting and food supply. With two parents around, there’s always a conflict of interests, which can have a detrimental effect on the quality of the offspring.
In evolutionary terms, the best strategy for any parent in the animal world is to find someone else to care for their offspring, so they can concentrate on breeding again. So it’s normal for parents to try to pass the buck to each other. But Ian Hartley from the University of Lancaster and his team wondered how families solve this conflict, and how the conflict itself affects the offspring.
To find out, they measured how much effort zebra finch parents put into raising their babies. They compared single females with pairs, by monitoring the amount of food each parent collected, and removing or adding chicks so that each pair of birds was raising four chicks, and each single mum had two—supposedly the same amount of work.
But single mums, they found, put in about 25 per cent more effort than females rearing with their mate. To avoid being exploited, mothers with a partner hold back from working too hard if the rather is being lazy, and it’s the chicks that pay the price. "The offspring suffer some of the cost of this conflict," says Hartley.
The cost does not show in any obvious decrease in size or weight, but in how attractive they arc to the opposite sex. When the chicks were mature, the researchers tested the "fitness" of the male offspring by offering females their choice of partner. Those males reared by single mums were chosen more often than those from two-parent families.
Sexual conflict has long been thought to affect the quality of care given to offspring, says zoologist Rebecca Kilner at Cambridge University, who works on conflict of parents in birds. "But the experimental evidence is not great. The breakthrough here is showing it empirically."
More surprising, says Kilner, is Hartley’s statement that conflict may be a strong influence on the evolution of behaviour, clutch size and even appearance. "People have not really made that link," says Hartley. A female’s reproductive strategy is usually thought to be affected by hunting and food supply. Kilner says conflict of parents should now be taken into account as well.
According to the passage, in what way does family conflict affect the quality of the offspring?
选项
A、The young males get less care.
B、The young females will decrease in weight.
C、The offspring will become lazy fathers or mothers in the future.
D、the offspring will not get mature easily.
答案
A
解析
第三段的第一和第二个句子谈到,在动物界,任何一个父亲或母亲的最佳策略是让他人(而不是自己)来照顾后代,这样,父母之间很自然就出现了相互推卸责任的现象。第五段讲到,这样做的后果就是后代付出代价,也就是受到的照顾少了。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/i42O777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
AproposedRussianbanonEuropeanUnionmeatexportscouldjeopardizeRussia’saspirationstojointheWorldTradeOrganization
OnacoldandrainydaylastFebruary,BruceAlbertsworeagrimexpressionashesteppeduptothemicrophonestomakehisstat
Aslongasherparentscanremember,13-year-oldKatieHarthasbeentalkingaboutgoingtocollege.Hermother,Tally,afinanc
Aschildrengetolder,self-disciplineshouldtaketheplaceofimposeddiscipline.Constrainsbecomeinternalizedandchildren
(66)Applicationfilesarepiledhighlythismonthincollegesacrossthecountry.(67)Admissionsofficersareporingessaysan
Iffullcreditsweregiventothispart,itcould_____ahighgradeforthestudentinhisphysicalcourse.
A______ofthisapproachisthatthevariablesarevisuallypresentedinastylethatcanbeunderstoodbygeneralistsandspecia
Doctorsmustinform______parentsaboutthelowoddsofsuccessinfertilitytreatments.
Hisplanisnotpracticalandis________tofailure.
Duringthepastgeneration,theAmericanmiddle-classfamilythatoncecouldcountonhardworkandfairplaytokeepitselffin
随机试题
Weather______,thesportsmeetwillbeheldasscheduled.
早期食管癌的病变范围是
患者,女,48岁。既往肝门静脉高压症病史,此次因发生急性大出血,应用三腔二囊管压迫止血。护士为该患者采取的护理措施不包括
患者,女性,31岁,车祸造成多发性损伤。急诊护士首先要处理的是
对下列情形,可以按照犯罪涉及的累计数额计算以确定是否构成犯罪的有:
甲因其丈夫在公安局看守所工作,所以与看守所的监管人员都很熟悉。一天,甲收受了在押重刑犯乙的亲属3万元钱,在没有和丈夫商量的情况下,利用自己出入看守所的方便,帮助乙从看守所逃走。下列关于甲的行为的定性,错误的是()。
[A]Breakingallconstraints[B]Timelinetoexecution[C]Thepurposeofthedecision[D]Knownunknownsandunknownunkno
在考生文件夹下打开文档Word.docx,按照要求完成下列操作并以该文件名(Word.docx)保存文档。吴明是某房地产公司的行政助理,主要负责开展公司的各项活动,并起草各种文件。为丰富公司的文化生活,公司将定于2013年10月21日下午15:00时在会
打开考生文件夹下的演示文稿yswg.pptx,按照下列要求完成对此文稿的修饰并保存。第二张幻灯片的版式改为“内容与标题”,剪贴画的动画设置为“进入”“随机线条”。插入一张幻灯片作为第一张幻灯片,版式为“标题”幻灯片,输入主标题文字“2006年元旦全球
Thinnerisn’talwaysbetter.Anumberofstudieshaveconcludedthatnormal-weightpeopleareinfactathigherriskofsomedis
最新回复
(
0
)