Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–6Cite as

Offspring Defense

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

  • 83 Accesses

Synonyms

Brood defense; Nest defense; Offspring protection

Definition

Protecting progeny against threats that may cause resource loss, bodily harm, or death

Introduction

In most species, the risk of extrinsic mortality (mortality due to external forces such as predation) is much higher for young than it is for adults. Young organisms are generally slower, smaller, and, due to inexperience, less skilled at navigating the world around them than adults are. While this is the case for nearly all species, it is particularly true for species which have altricial (as opposed to precocial) young. This includes humans, whose infants are considerably less neurologically and behaviorally developed at birth than the neonates of most other primates (Freedman 2016). They are entirely reliant on older caretakers for all of their basic needs, including protection.

In many species, there is considerable selective pressure on one or both parents to protect their offspring from threats of all kinds. By...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Alcock, J. (2009). Animal behavior: An evolutionary approach. Sunderland: Sinauer Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Archer, J. (2013). Can evolutionary principles explain patterns of family violence? Psychological Bulletin, 139(2), 403.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, H. (2015). Adaptations to predators and prey. In The handbook of evolutionary psychology: Foundation (Vol. 2, p. 246). John Wiley & Sons Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, H., & Broesch, J. (2012). Prepared social learning about dangerous animals in children. Evolution and Human Behavior, 33(5), 499–508. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.01.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caro, T. (2005). Antipredator defenses in birds and mammals. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock, T. (1991). The evolution of parental care. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock, T. (2016). Mammal societies. Oxford, UK: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crane, A. L., & Ferrari, M. C. (2013). Social learning of predation risk: A review and prospectus. In K. B. Clark (Ed.), Social learning theory: Phylogenetic considerations across animal, plant, and microbial taxa (pp. 53–82). New York: Nova Science Publisher.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freedman, D. G. (2016). Human infancy: An evolutionary perspective (Vol. 11). Oxford, UK: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gans, C. (1996). An overview of parental care among the reptilia. Advances in the Study of Behavior, 25, 145–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-3454(08)60332-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hinsch, M., & Komdeur, J. (2017). What do territory owners defend against? Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284(1849). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.2356.

  • Hrdy, S. B. (1979). Infanticide among animals: A review, classification, and examination of the implications for the reproductive strategies of females. Ethology and Sociobiology, 1(1), 13–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(79)90004-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Komdeur, J., & Kats, R. K. H. (1999). Predation risk affects trade-off between nest guarding and foraging in Seychelles warblers. Behavioral Ecology, 10(6), 648–658. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/10.6.648.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koskela, E., Juutistenaho, P., Mappes, T., & Oksanen, T. A. (2000). Offspring defence in relation to litter size and age: Experiment in the bank vole Clethrionomys glareolus. Evolutionary Ecology, 14(2), 99–109. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1011051426666.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahr, K., Riegler, G., & Hoi, H. (2015). Parental risk management in relation to offspring defence: Bad news for kids. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1798). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1670.

  • Marquardt, T., Kaczmarek, S., & Krantz, G. W. (2016). Pre-ovipositional and ovipositional behaviour of Lasioseius ometes (Oudemans) and Hypoaspis kargi costa (Acari: Dermanyssiae: Ascidae, Laelapidae) with notes on egg protection strategies in Mesostigmata. Journal of Natural History, 50(23–24), 1473–1482. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2015.1117672.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montgomerie, R. D., & Weatherhead, P. J. (1988). Risks and rewards of nest defence by parent birds. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 63(2), 167–187. https://doi.org/10.1086/415838.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nguyen, N., Van Horn, R. C., Alberts, S. C., & Altmann, J. (2009). “Friendships” between new mothers and adult males: Adaptive benefits and determinants in wild baboons (Papio Cynocephalus). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 63(9), 1331–1344. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-009-0786-6.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Palombit, R. A. (2000). Infanticide and the evolution of male-female bonds in animals. In C. van Schaik & C. Janson (Eds.), Infanticide by males and its implications (pp. 239–268). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Palombit, R. A. (2012). Infanticide: Male strategies and female counterstrategies. In J. C. Mitani, J. Call, P. M. Kappeler, R. A. Palombit, & J. B. Silk (Eds.), The Evolution of Primate Societies, 432–468. University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palombit, R. A., Cheney, D. L., Fischer, J., Johnson, S., Rendall, D., Seyfarth, R. M., & Silk, J. B. (2000). Male infanticide and defense of infants in chacma baboons. In C. van Schaik & C. Janson (Eds.), Infanticide by males and its implications (pp. 123–152). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Parmigiani, S., & vom Saal, F. S. (2016). Infanticide and parental care. Oxford, UK: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Price, E. C. (1992). The costs of infant carrying in captive cotton-top tamarins. American Journal of Primatology, 26(1), 23–33. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.1350260106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, C. (2001). Park or ride? Evolution of infant carrying in primates. International Journal of Primatology, 22(5), 749–771. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1012065332758.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, J., Kosztolányi, A., Tökölyi, J., Hugyecz, B., Illés, I., Király, R., & Barta, Z. (2015). Reproductive asynchrony and infanticide in house mice breeding communally. Animal Behaviour, 101, 201–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.12.015.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seyfarth, R. M., Cheney, D. L., & Marler, P. (1980). Vervet monkey alarm calls: Semantic communication in a free-ranging primate. Animal Behaviour, 28(4), 1070–1094. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(80)80097-2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stynoski, J. L., Torres-Mendoza, Y., Sasa-Marin, M., & Saporito, R. A. (2014). Evidence of maternal provisioning of alkaloid-based chemical defenses in the strawberry poison frog Oophaga Pumilio. Ecology, 95(3), 587–593. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-0927.1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tecot, S. R., Baden, A. L., Romine, N. K., & Kamilar, J. M. (2012). Infant parking and nesting, not allomaternal care, influence Malagasy primate life histories. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 66(10), 1375–1386. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-012-1393-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thünken, T., Meuthen, D., Bakker, T. C. M., & Kullmann, H. (2010). Parental investment in relation to offspring quality in the biparental cichlid fish Pelvicachromis taeniatus. Animal Behaviour, 80(1), 69–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.04.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trivers, R. (1972). Parental investment and sexual selection. In B. Campbell (Ed.), Sexual selection and the descent of man (pp. 136–179). Chicago: Aldine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolff, J. O., & Peterson, J. A. (1998). An offspring-defense hypothesis for territoriality in female mammals. Ethology Ecology and Evolution, 10(3), 227–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/08927014.1998.9522854.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Stacy Rosenbaum

Authors
  1. Stacy Rosenbaum
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stacy Rosenbaum .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Psychological Sciences, Kansas State University, 492 Bluemont Hall, Manhattan, KS, USA

    Gary L Brase

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Rosenbaum, S. (2017). Offspring Defense. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1904-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1904-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation