Unconditional adoption rules out the need for parent–offspring recognition in a single‐brooded colonial seabird

Abstract

Parent-offspring recognition (POR) is fundamental in colonial birds when the potential intermingling of chicks is higher due to the large number and proximity of nests.In species with isolated nests, where chick presence in the nest is strong contextual evidence of kinship, there might be circumstances when the parent might doubt the identity of the chick, but not enough to reject it. Olfactory-based recognition of con-

The first evidence of alloparental feeding in a crevice‐nesting seabird, the little auk

“…An alternative explanation for the observed alloparental care in little auks, particularly the feeding of chick from nest B on two occasions, could be that individuals mistook the focal chick for their offspring. While some colonial birds recognise the vocalisation, smell and/or behaviour of their offspring (e.g., penguins, Aubin & Jouventin, 2002 ), once a nest is situated in a burrow or crevice, parents rely on its location to determine which chick to feed (Becciu et al., 2021 ; Beecher, 1991 ). A recent study indicates that, despite the chick‐specific begging call of little auks, parents feed a foreign chick if it is swapped with their chick (Kidawa et al., 2023 ).…”