Capuchin monkeys have been observed caring for the young of other species (Thinkstock)
Source: BBC
By Jason G Goldman
In the animal kingdom, parents adopt babies that aren’t their own, and even other species, says Jason G Goldman. Why do they do it?
Is adopting a child a benevolent or a foolish act? If you were taking a cold evolutionary perspective, it would appear to be the latter.
For foster parents, there are huge costs involved, with no promise of passing on genes. Scientists have long been interested in adoption, because it seems to be wholly altruistic. But this makes it especially perplexing in animals, who do not have the cultural influences we do. So could taking a closer look at adoption in non-humans shed any light on why it’s so common?
One of the more striking places to see adoption in the animal kingdom is Ano Nuevo Island, rising from the sea less than one kilometre off the rocky California coast. Once a year, it is host to the breeding of hundreds of northern elephant seals.
From 1976 onwards, marine scientist Marianne Riedman, together with her colleague Burney Le Boeuf, studied adoption among the seals – and why it was happening. It’s a crowded beach, with bad weather, high tides and rough surf, which perhaps explains why one-quarter to two-thirds of pups each year were separated from their mothers at least once – some permanently.