Okay, but why do some birds babysit?

E13. Some birds skip having their own families and spend years helping raise their siblings instead. It sounds like altruism, but it's probably more complicated than that. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Nancy Chen, UCLA, to unpack the notion that it takes a village to raise a child chick.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

• Why some birds spend years as unpaid helpers before starting families of their own
• What the Florida Scrub-Jay's 50-year study at Archbold Biological Station revealed about cooperative breeding
• Whether helping your siblings is really altruism or just evolution doing it’s thing

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But... Birds and share it with a friend who thinks family is complicated.

All audio, video, and images in this episode are either original to Okay, But... Birds (© Okay Media, LLC) or used under license/permission from the respective rights holders. Bird media from the Macaulay Library is used courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as follows:

• Florida Scrub-Jay audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML229211
• American Crow video contributed by Jay McGowan, ML472843
• Superb Fairywren audio contributed by Vicki Powys, ML233810
• Superb Starling audio contributed by Myles E. W. North, ML14855
• Red-necked Phalarope audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML235440
• Northern Jacana audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML140224