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Motherhood is energetically costly for mammals and is associated with pronounced changes in mothers' physiology, morphology and behavior. In ~5% of mammals, fathers assist their mates with rearing offspring and can enhance offspring survival and development. Although these beneficial consequences of paternal care can be mediated by direct effects on offspring, they might also be mediated indirectly, through beneficial effects on mothers. We tested the hypothesis that fathers in the monogamous, biparental California mouse (Peromyscus californicus) reduce the burden of parental care on their mates, and therefore, that females rearing offspring with and without assistance from their mates will show differences in endocrinology, morphology and behavior, as well as in the survival and development of their pups. We found that pups' survival and development in the lab did not differ between those raised by a …