ANT E101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Egg Cell
Document Summary
Females born with limited # of ova (eggs) Female can only breed when ova mature and are released. Males can fertilize whenever sperm are replenished; more often! Primate mothers are almost always the primary (if not exclusive) caretakers of offspring. The behavior of fathers is much more variable. Reproductive potential = the maximum number of offspring an individual can produce. Energetic costs of pregnancy and lactation requires mammalian females to make a significant initial investment in each offspring. Each infant represents a significant portion of a female"s lifetime fitness. Females have limited capacity to increase rs by increase in the number of offspring. Females are best able to increase rs by an increase in survival. Females can improve likelihood of their and their offspring"s survival in 2 ways. Invest more care and energy into offspring depends largely on her ability to obtain important resources (food, nest sites, helpers) to support herself and her offspring.
