Name: how animals care for their young
Uploaded: 2026-09-01T16:42:31.255Z
Duration: 1 min 37 s
Channel: JoVE

K12 Standards

Virginia  Standards of Learning

HIgh School

Life Science

LS.6

LS.6.b

Parental Care

Many animals show parental care, which includes behaviors that help offspring survive and grow.Different species show different forms of care before and after birth.In egg-laying animals, care often begins early with the protection and maintenance of eggs.In birds, parental care starts with incubation. Parents sit on the eggs to keep them at the right temperature for embryo development. After the chicks hatch, the parents continue to feed and protect them.Other animals provide care primarily after birth by feeding, grooming, and guarding their young. In mammals, parental care often includes feeding and protecting offspring as they develop.Newborns are highly dependent, and maternal hormones, such as oxytocin and prolactin, support bonding, milk release during feeding, and caregiving behavior.Parental care is not limited to females. In some fish species, males take the primary role.Male sticklebacks build nests and guard eggs. Male jawfish protect offspring through mouthbrooding, where they carry fertilized eggs in their mouths until the eggs develop further.Parental care requires energy and can limit future reproduction. But it improves offspring survival and helps species continue

parental care

Many animals exhibit parental care behavior, including feeding, grooming, and protecting young offspring. Parental care is universal in mammals and birds, which often have young that are born relatively helpless. Several species of insects and fish, as well as some amphibians, also care for their young.

<h4>Birds</h4>

Parental care can occur even before hatching in birds, when parents sit on their eggs to incubate them. After hatching, the parents provide food for their offspring, and may continue to brood their young to keep them warm. Both male and female birds provide parental care, depending on the species.

<h4>Mammals</h4>

In marsupial mammals, such as kangaroos, the embryos are often born at a very early stage and then crawl into their mother&#x2019;s pouch. Here, the mother nurses and protects her offspring&#x2014;sometimes for many months&#x2014;until it can function more independently.

Placental mammals are born more developed than marsupials, but they still require a lot of care. Mammalian parental care is mostly provided by the mother, triggered by the hormones of pregnancy and birth and the necessity of lactation for providing nutrients. Nursing is an essential kind of mammalian parental care since the mother&#x2019;s milk is the primary source of food for the young. Mammals also often lick their newborns and carry them around&#x2014;grooming, protecting, and bonding with them.

About 5-10% of mammalian species are routinely cared for by both parents. For example, male monogamous prairie voles provide parental care. Since they only have one mate, they have a greater investment in the care of their offspring than vole species with multiple mates. In non-monogamous vole species, the mother provides the care.

<h4>Fish</h4>

In aquatic species that reproduce by external fertilization, such as most fish, males play a much greater role in parental care. This is likely because paternity can be more easily determined in these species compared to those that reproduce by internal fertilization. A large number of fish species have exclusively male parental care, with the males protecting the fertilized eggs and young in a nest, or even in their mouths.

Many animals exhibit parental care behavior, including feeding, grooming, and protecting young offspring. Parental care is universal in mammals and birds, ...

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JoVE Core

Biology

Ecology

Behavior

KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS

how animals care for their young

Parental care is the behavior animals use to feed, groom, and protect their young. It is common in mammals and birds, which often have offspring that are born relatively helpless. Some insects, fish, and amphibians also show this kind of care.

In birds, parental care can begin before hatching. Parents sit on eggs to incubate them, which helps the embryos develop. After the chicks hatch, the parents bring food and may brood the young to keep them warm. Depending on the species, both the male and female may help.

Mammals show strong parental care as well. In marsupials such as kangaroos, the embryos are born very early and then crawl into the mother’s pouch. The mother nurses and protects the young there, sometimes for many months, until it can live more independently. Placental mammals are born more developed than marsupials, but they still need a lot of care.

In mammals, the mother usually provides most of the care. Pregnancy, birth, and lactation help trigger this behavior, and milk is the main food source for the young. Mothers also lick and carry newborns, which helps with grooming, protection, and bonding. About 5% to 10% of mammal species are cared for by both parents. Male monogamous prairie voles are one example, while non-monogamous vole species usually rely on the mother alone.

Fish can also show parental care, especially in species that reproduce by external fertilization. In these species, males often play a larger role, likely because paternity is easier to determine than in animals with internal fertilization. Many fish species have only male care, with males guarding fertilized eggs and young in a nest or even in their mouths.

How Animals Care for Their Young

types of behavior

How Animals Act and Adapt

Animal behavior is the set of actions an organism performs. These actions can help it find food, reproduce, defend against threats, and carry out many other tasks. Behavior can also include movement in the environment, such as migration, and social interactions within a species or population. Many behaviors involve motor output. Motor output means muscle movement. Other behaviors are less visible. Learning is one example of a behavior that does not always show up as an obvious physical action.<br...

fixed action patterns

Stickleback Courtship and Attack Signals

A fixed action pattern is a hard-wired behavior sequence that starts when an animal detects a sign stimulus. The behavior is fixed because it stays the same across individuals of a species. It is innate, so the animal is born with the ability to do it and does not need to learn it. Nikolaas Tinbergen described a classic fixed action pattern in three-spined stickleback fish in the 1930s. During breeding season, male sticklebacks develop a red throat and belly and build a nest. They use a...

imprinting

Imprinting and Early Animal Bonding

Imprinting is a form of early animal bonding seen in some newborn animals. It happens after brief exposure soon after birth or hatching. During this time, young animals form a strong and specific attachment to another animal, usually a parent. This early window is called the critical period. Once imprinting happens, the bond is usually long-lasting. In many cases, the young animal will keep that attachment even after the critical period ends. Imprinting helps animals survive. Mother sheep can...

communication

Animal Communication Signals

Animal communication happens when one animal sends a signal that changes the behavior of another animal. These signals help organisms survive, grow, and reproduce. They can be auditory, chemical, visual, tactile, or a mix of these forms. Visual communication is common in many animals. It can help attract a mate, as seen in the elaborate dances of the bird-of-paradise. It can also warn others, like the bared teeth of a wolf or the bright aposematic coloration of a banded sea krait, which is a...

migration

Animal Migration: Triggers and Navigation

Animal migration is the long-range, seasonal movement from one region or habitat to another. Many organisms use this strategy to respond to changes in climate or resource availability. Migrations can involve thousands of animals moving together or a single individual traveling alone. They can also be very different in scale, from thousands of kilometers to just a few hundred meters. Food is a major reason many species migrate. The Mexican long-nosed bat feeds on nectar from flowers, including...

optimal foraging

Foraging Trade-offs in Animals

Foraging trade-offs shape how animals find and use food. Foraging behavior includes searching for plants and hunting prey, and it varies with the species and the environment. Optimal foraging theory says natural selection favors strategies that balance the benefits of food, such as energy and nutrients, against the costs of getting it, such as energy use and the risk of predation. Crows show how this balance can work in real life. Northwestern crows eat whelks, which are sea snails with hard...

mate choice

Sexual Selection in Mate Choice

Mate choice is a form of sexual selection in which animals choose partners based on traits that can affect reproduction. It is also called intersexual selection because it happens between the sexes. In many species, one sex is choosy, and it is often the female. Choosy animals may select mates by looking at appearance or behavior. They often prefer showier males with brighter coloration, more elaborate ornamentation, like a peacock’s tail, or more complex songs and courtship displays. These...

Parental care is the behavior animals use to feed, groom, and protect their young. It is common in mammals and birds, which often have offspring that are born relatively helpless. Some insects, fish, and amphibians also show this kind of care. In birds, parental care can begin before hatching. Parents sit on eggs to incubate them, which helps the embryos develop. After the chicks hatch, the parents bring food and may brood the young to keep them warm. Depending on the species, both the male...

altruism

Altruism in Animal Groups

Altruism in animal groups is unselfish behavior that helps another individual at a cost to the animal doing it. These acts can look risky or even harmful in the short term. Still, they can persist because they often benefit related animals or bring later rewards. One major reason altruism evolves is kin selection, which means helping relatives can protect shared genes. This is seen in eusocial colonies such as bees and naked mole rats, where one reproductive female, the queen, is supported by...

inclusive fitness

How Kin Selection Spreads Helpful Traits

Inclusive fitness explains why animals may help relatives even at a personal cost. It describes how an individual can pass on genes through its own offspring and through the offspring of close relatives that share those genes. When help increases a relative’s reproductive success, the helper’s inclusive fitness can also rise. A clear example appears in eusocial animals such as bees and naked mole rats. These species live in colonies with one reproductively capable female, called the queen. The...

key terms and concepts

Explore how birds, mammals, and fish care for their young through incubation, nursing, grooming, and protection in this high school biology topic.

How Animals Care for Their Young | JoVE K12

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biology

Next Generation Science Standards

High School

ecosystems-interactions-energy-and-dynamics

Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

HS-LS2-8

heredity-inheritance-and-variation-of-traits

Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

HS-LS4-2

south-carolina-college-and-career-ready-science-standards

South Carolina College and Career Ready Science Standards

B-LS2-8.

new-york-state-science-learning-standards

New York State Science Learning Standards

Natural Selection and Evolution

HS-LS4-1.

Predator-Prey Interactions

Predators consume prey for energy. Predators that acquire prey and prey that avoid predation both increase their chances of survival and reproduction ...

Trophic Levels

All organisms in an ecosystem occupy a trophic level in the food chain. The lowest level consists of primary producers, which synthesize their food from ...

Keystone Species

Measures of species biodiversity, such as richness (i.e., the number of species present) and evenness (i.e., their relative abundance), describe an ...

Population Growth

Population size is dynamic, increasing with birth rates and immigration, and decreasing with death rates and emigration. In ideal conditions with ...

The student will investigate and understand that populations in a biological community interact and are interdependent. Key ideas include relationships exist between predators and prey and these relationships are modeled in food webs;

LS.6.a

Competition

When organisms require the same limited resources within an environment, they may have to compete for them. Competition is a net-negative interaction. ...

What are Populations and Communities?

Populations are groups of individuals of the same species that inhabit a shared environment. Communities include multiple co-existing, interacting ...

Ecological Niches

All organisms have a position within an ecosystem. The complete set of living and nonliving factors&#x2014;including food resources, climate, and ...

Optimal Foraging

How animals obtain and eat their food is called foraging behavior. Foraging can include searching for plants and hunting for prey and depends on the ...

The student will investigate and understand that populations in a biological community interact and are interdependent. Key ideas include the availability and use of resources may lead to competition and cooperation;

Symbiosis

Symbiotic relationships are long-term, close interactions between individuals of different species that affect the distribution and abundance of those ...

The student will investigate and understand that populations in a biological community interact and are interdependent. Key ideas include symbiotic relationships support the survival of different species; and

LS.6.c

Ecological Succession

Ecological succession is influenced by the processes of facilitation, inhibition, and toleration. Facilitation occurs when early successional species ...

The student will investigate and understand that populations in a biological community interact and are interdependent. Key ideas include the niche of each organism supports survival.

LS.6.d

How Animals Care for Their Young

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