Kin selection and allocare in sperm whales

Christine M Konrad, Timothy R Frasier, Hal Whitehead and Shane Gero

Behavioral Ecology, 2019, vol. 30, issue 1, 194-201

Abstract: Female sperm whales babysit and suckle one another’s calves, especially those of close relatives. This is predicted by the theory of kin selection in which helping close relatives improves the prospects of the helper’s genes. However, among the studied sperm whales calves also received care from distant relatives or non-kin, so other evolutionary forces are also at play.

Keywords: alloparental care; allosuckling; babysitting; kinship; sperm whale (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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