Marry well and take good care of the kids. Sound advice for a long life and children who are, in turn, good parents. According to Rebecca Kilner of Cambridge University, it also works for sexton beetles (so called because they bury dead animals to feed their young). Unusually for insects, these beetles are attentive parents. Both father and mother feed the larvae. But not every marriage is equal, and not every parent as attentive as the next. That has consequences for the offspring. Neglected youth of both sexes, Dr Kilner reports in eLife, go on to be less attentive parents, with smaller broods. Well-raised, attentive fathers who raise larvae with neglected mothers also tend to die younger than their siblings who pair up with more helpful females. Yet, unfairly, deadbeat dads do not seem to inflict similar detrimental effects on their (therefore) longer-suffering mates.
Source: Science and technology http://ift.tt/1PxkCHX
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