Inability of recognizing offspring underlies parental errors in the selection of offspring

Abstract

Inclusive fitness theory posits that altruistic behaviors, which are directed more likely towards relatives, should be favored by natural selection. However, the prevalence of alternative parenting behaviors in offspring selection, including rejecting their own offspring and accepting the offspring of others, remains poorly understood within the context of parental care evolution. In order to investigate the factors that prompt the occurrence of alternative parenting behaviors, we designed a series of experiments in the Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus). By manipulating the nest spatial position or offspring age/number and parent-offspring familiarity, we addressed how parents provided parental care for the manipulated offspring. In the nest resettlement experiment, the probability of parents rejecting their own offspring significantly increased with nest-moving distances while decreased with offspring ages. In the cross-fostering experiments, the probability of parents provisioning unrelated young significantly decreased with the age difference between cross-fostered chicks. In the nest duplication experiments, where parents were given a choice between familiar offspring and unfamiliar unrelated chicks or between unfamiliar offspring and familiar unrelated chicks, the probability of both alternative parenting behaviors was significantly influenced by the time when parental association with their offspring was deprived. We conclude that as offspring phenotypic traits become individualized and fixed at a special developmental stage, parents gradually acquire the capacity for offspring recognition by associating with them. Any factors that disrupt parent–offspring association or introduce unrelated young into the nest prior to this critical timeline can result in the occurrence of alternative parenting behaviors.