The Political Animal: An Anatomy

If so, that choice leads to further choices: both the mother and the father could choose to provide the parental care, or just the mother could choose to do so, or just the father could. On the other hand, if the egg has a one-in-ten chance of surviving even with no parental care, and if the time you'd devote to tending it would alternatively let you produce 1,000 more fertilized eggs, you'd be host off leaving that first egg to fend for itself and going on to produce more fertilized eggs. I've referred to these alternatives as БЂњchoicesБЂ«. That word may seem to suggest that animals operate like human (Incision-makers, consciously evaluating alternatives and finally choosing the particular alternative that seems most likely to advance the animal's self-interest. Of course, that's not what happens. Many of the so-called choices actually are programmed into an animal's anatomy and physiology. For example, female kangaroos have БЂњchosenБЂ«to have a pouch that can accommodate their young, but male kangaroos have not ...»