Which of the following is true regarding parent-offspring conflict?
A) Weaning is an example of parent-offspring conflict, and this transition reflects a fundamental symmetry in the genetic interests of mothers and offspring.
B) A mother is equally related to each of her offspring; in contrast, an offspring is at most 25% related to its siblings but is 100% related to itself.
C) A mother is motivated to wean her current infant so she can begin investment in her next infant, but the infant will resist its mother's attempts at weaning because it is not in its genetic best interest.
D) Parent-offspring conflict only occurs in primates because reproductive costs are higher than for other mammals.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Parent-offspring conflict arises because a mother's genetic interests lie in producing as many offspring as possible to perpetuate her genes, while an offspring's interests lie in receiving as much parental investment as possible. Weaning is an example of conflict because the mother wants to invest in her next offspring, while the current offspring wants to continue receiving investment. Option A is incorrect because mothers and offspring have asymmetrical genetic interests. Option B is also incorrect because a mother is more related to her offspring than she is to her siblings, due to the fact that offspring inherit half of their genetic material from the mother. Option D is incorrect because parent-offspring conflict occurs in many other mammals besides primates.

Which of the Following Is True Regarding Parent-Offspring Conflict