For long-tailed tits, it really does take a village

By Jennifer Morinay, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Sheffield
Ben Hatchwell, Professor of Evolutionary Ecology, University of Sheffield

Any parent will tell you how useful it can be to have family living nearby, giving a helping hand when raising your children. In humans, relatives and even non-relatives act as childminders. Such behaviour is widespread in other animals too, particularly birds.

In our recent study we explored why long-tailed tits, one of the UK’s tiniest bird species, often act as foster parents instead of raising their own brood.

Since Darwin’s…

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