Co-operative breeding is when parents recruit the previous year's grown up offspring or other adult helpers to help raise the latest brood or litter. The minders may look after the young in creches, or individually. Examples include bee-eaters, wolves and of course, humans. If grandma or a child minder helps look after the kids, then that's co-operative breeding!
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Chicknapped!
White-billed chough chicks are press-ganged into joining other families.
White-billed chough chicks are press-ganged into joining other families.
Gharial guardian
Gharials are devoted mothers, before and after their babies hatch.
As her babies prepare to hatch and call to her, a mother gharial digs into her nest to help them. The babies continue to call as they hatch. Gharials are devoted mothers. The mother gharials take turns to guard a creche of babies in the Chambal river. Includes shots of Valmik Thapar riding an elephant past the Taj Mahal.
Treetop babysitters
Family life is the key to success for Madagascars ruffed lemurs.
Family life is the key to success for Madagascars ruffed lemurs.
New recruits
Synchronised breeding gives mongoose creches an edge.
Synchronised breeding gives mongoose creches an edge.
Mobsters
Young pups need to attach themselves to a mentor to survive.
Young pups need to attach themselves to a mentor to survive.
African wild dog
Arctic fox
Banded mongoose
Ethiopian wolf
Giant river otter
Grey wolf
Lion
Meerkat
Red fox
South American grey fox
Walrus
White-nosed coati
Giraffe
Barbary macaque
François' langur
Golden langur
Human
Olive baboon
Phayre's leaf monkey
Pied tamarin
Red ruffed lemur
Tarsiers
African bush elephant
Forest elephant
Black-tailed prairie dog
Brown rat
Capybara
Damaraland mole rat
European beaver
Gunnison's prairie dog
Naked mole rat
Common bottlenose dolphin
Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin
Sperm whale
Nightjar
Pied kingfisher
Southern carmine bee-eater
White-fronted bee-eater
Socotra cormorant
Skylark
Swallow
Arctic skua
Little ringed ploverCooperative breeding is a social system in which individuals contribute care to offspring that are not their own at the expense of their own reproduction . When reproduction is monopolized by one or few of the adult group members and most adults do not reproduce, but help rear the breeder’s offspring, the majority of these cooperative breeding species exhibit high reproductive skew. However, there are plural breeding species with low reproductive skew, in which the subordinates commonly breed. This kind of cooperative breeding systems is particularly rare and includes communal breeding, in which more than one female lays eggs or gives birth to young . Cooperative breeding is different from alloparenting, which is simply the act of caring completely for another conspecific's offspring but not at their own expense. Alloparents always have ulterior motives such as practicing to be better parents, reciprocation and genetic interest. Additionally, cooperative breeding is not altruism, which is the care for others (not necessarily offspring) with no expectation of any compensation or benefits, whether direct or indirect.
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Other Reproductive strategy behaviours
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