BIOL 178 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Brood Patch, Crop Milk, Altricial
6 Mar 2020
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Document Summary
Parental behavior in vertebrates: parental behavior, maternal behavior, paternal behavior, alloparental behavior - parental behavior performed towards someone else"s offspring, essential for successful reproduction in some taxa (esp. Incubating eggs - brood patch: nest-building, feeding nestlings - regurgitating food, producing crop milk (pigeons and doves, protecting nestlings - nest-defense behaviors, broody behavior - (incubating eggs) sitting on or over nestlings - provides protection, warmth. Species differences: types of nestlings: altricial young, helpless, immobile at hatching, require feeding, protection, brooding e. g. robins, starlings (most birds, precocial young, more developed, mobile at hatching, require protection & brooding, but can self-feed e. g. chickens, ducks. Initiation of incubation: progesterone and estrogen levels are high, prolactin beginning to rise, maintenance of incubation: Prolactin in both parents crop milk: termination of parental behavior, by 20 days post-hatching . Male and female begin a new cycle of courtship and nest-building. Females: prolactin secretion and feeding of squab stop. Males: prolactin secretion and feeding of squab continue.
