category: Culture
The Evolution of Fatherhood
FF: I thought I’d let Higgs handle this post, since he has strong opinions on the matter of fathering.
Higgs: Happy Male Parental Investment Day. That’s what Father’s day is really all about, after all. Parenting is an interesting evolutionary phenomenon and quite foreign to us male cats. I don’t know how many Higglets I might have “fathered” during my nights as a free-ranging intact adult male alley cat.
We cats get away with hit and run mating, but we pay for it in other ways. Out on the streets, life is one series of fights with other male cats. One way or another it’s always about the chance to mate. Hanging out with kittens might be more fun than endless bloody street fights, but that’s not what evolution handed us.
In many birds and some mammals, the offspring wouldn’t survive without the care of two parents, and often the male works hard to help feed and nurture his progeny. Some fish fathers go to even greater lengths, taking on most or all the duties of parenthood themselves. The most famous examples are seahorse males carrying their offspring around in a pouch. I would find that quite encumbering.
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Planet of the Apes
