Parenting on Coral Reefs
Dr Anjani Ganase looks at how the next generation is nurtured, on land and in the ocean Parenting is not just something we do as humans; rather it is an evolutionary trait adopted by animals to care for their offspring during the nesting and juvenile stages of their lifecycle in order to improve the chances of survival through a successful transfer of genetic traits. Because parenting is energy intensive, parents can often only invest time and energy in a few offspring rather than hundreds or even thousands. There is a trade off in what a parent invests against the number offspring being born. Whales, for example, only produce one calf every couple of years. The mother will spend years nurturing the calf, teaching it how to hunt and survive. Conversely, marine turtles come ashore to lay hundreds of eggs, but they don’t stick around to guide the hatchlings to the water or show them how to navigate the open ocean. Their offspring rely heavily on their genetic ...