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Concept
Alloparenting
Summary
Alloparenting (also referred to as alloparental care) is a term used to classify any form of parental care provided by an individual towards young that are not its own direct offspring. These are often referred to as "non-descendant" young, even though grandchildren can be among them. Among humans, alloparenting is often performed by a child's grandparents and older siblings. Individuals providing this care are referred to using the neutral term of alloparent (or "helper").
Alloparental care encapsulates a diverse range of parenting systems across a range of animal groups and social structures. The alloparent–young relationship can be mutualistic or parasitic, and between or within species. Cooperative breeding, joint brood care, reciprocal allonursing, brood parasitism and cuckoldry represent situations in which alloparenting plays a role.
Alloparenting is a form of parenting that is not found often in the wild. With this type of care comes some costs, including the spending of time and energy for caring for another's offspring at your own expense with no direct benefits from it. This form of parenting is seen frequently among the human population. However, it is not as popular among other species. Alloparenting is rare among classes of animals such as birds and mammals, with only about 3% of mammals exhibiting this parenting style, but this does not mean it does not occur. In species that alloparent, it has been seen that offspring grow at faster rates and are often time weaned earlier.
The behavior revolving around alloparental care is more or less the same among species. The term babysitting is often used as a way to describe how this parental style works. In humans, alloparenting is seen abundantly and it mainly revolves around this term. Other parents and people watch others young and help care for them while the biological parents are busy. This is seen in Sperm Whales as well. To allow the mother to dive and gather food and resources, the whales in their social group separate their dives allowing for the baby to be monitored and overseen by a whale during all times.
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