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Name: Unknown
Status: student
Age: 15
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 2002
Question:
Why do some mammals have litters?

Replies:
This has to do with survival of the fittest. Organisms that give no parental care, i.e. fish, frogs, have hundreds of offspring at a time. They abandon their eggs and the probability that only a few will survive to reproduce is great. Humans usually have only one child at a time and take very good care of them for a long time. Other mammals are closer to us, but they don't take care of their young for as long as we do. So they have more to insure that at least some will survive to reproduce.

vanhoeck

The number of offspring is directly related to niche of the animal and the availablity of the mammals food supply. The higher the mammal is in the food chain, the smaller the number of offspring at a given time. Mammals sucha as rodents have to produce large numbers for most will not survive to reproduction age due to predators, so you have larger litters.

Steve Sample

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