Across the animal kingdom, parents in many species devote extraordinary effort toward
caring for offspring, often risking their lives and exhausting limited resources. Understanding …

This article is part of a Special Issue “Parental Care”. Paternal care, though rare among
mammals, is routinely displayed by several species of rodents. Here we review the …

Highlights•Paternal care is associated with hormonal changes in rodents, primates and
humans.•Paternal behavior depends on similar neural systems as maternal …

Care of infants is a hallmark of mammals. Whereas parental care by mothers is obligatory for
offspring survival in virtually all mammals, fathers provide care for their offspring in only an …

Male rodents that are naturally paternal, like all females, must inhibit infanticide and activate
direct parental behavior as they become parents. Males, however, alter their behavior in the …

In a minority of mammalian species, mothers depend on others to help raise their offspring.
New research is investigating the neuroendocrine mechanisms supporting this allomaternal …

Parental care is essential for the survival of offspring in altricial mammalian species.
However, in most mammals, virgin females tend to avoid or attack infants. Moreover, most …

In humans, paternal behaviors have a strong influence on the emotional and social
development of children. Fathers, more frequently than mothers, leave the family nucleus …

Parental care by fathers, although rare among mmmals, can be essential for the survival and
normal development of offspring in biparental species. A growing body of research on …

For female mammals, caring for young until weaning or even longer is an extension of the
reproductive burden that begins at insemination. Given the high price females potentially …