Few things play a bigger role in a child’s development than the bond with their mother in their early days. But it turns out that the strength of that bond is determined genetically. Such are the results of an international study involving over 400 mother-child pairs. Scientistscollected genetic information and behavioral data from the infants. Half of the mothers […]
Tag: parenting
Babysitters lend a helping hand for wild chimpanzee moms 
Baby chimps that spend more time with someone other than their mothers can be weaned from breastfeeding faster than those cared for solely by their mom. A team of researchers observed 42 mother-infant pairs to see how much care time by others—defined as “alloparenting”—affects the feeding time for the infant. They observed that infants who […]
Gorilla moms may be responsible for differences in social organization between species
Social organization of gorillas has been helpful to explain the evolution of human behavior, but these structures vary among gorilla species. A recent study outlines different parenting styles among mothers in various gorilla species. For example, female mountain gorillas remain with their sons significantly longer than western gorillas. The presence of the mother might reduce the […]
Hawks and owls have trouble as single dads
Some male hawks and owls have trouble adapting their behaviour in order to raise chicks on their own, a new study finds. In breeding pairs, the male is the primary provider of prey for their young while females tear the prey into right-sized chunks and also brood the chicks. (i.e. use their bodies to shield […]
Children tune into their parents, regardless of language
Monolingual children and bilingual children are equally good at learning new words, as long as they hear them from people who comes from their own language environment, a new study shows. Researchers tested thirty 17-month-old French-English bilinguals’ infants and thirty-one English monolinguals’ infants learning two simple pair of syllables (‘kem’ and ‘gem’) produced by an […]
