allomother
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
Pronunciation [edit]
Noun [edit]
allomother (plural allomothers)
- (zoology) A human or other animal that provides some maternal care for the young born by another.
- 2000, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and how They Shape the Human Species, page 162:
- Within hours of birth, baby langurs are spirited away from their mothers. They spend up to 50 percent of daylight hours passed from allomother to allomother
- 2009 March 3, Natalie Angier, “In a Helpless Baby, the Roots of Our Social Glue”, New York Times:
- Among the !Kung foragers of the Kalahari, babies are held by a father, grandmother, older sibling or some other allomother maybe 25 percent of the time.
- 2000, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and how They Shape the Human Species, page 162:
Related terms [edit]
Verb [edit]
allomother (third-person singular simple present allomothers, present participle allomothering, simple past and past participle allomothered)
- (transitive) To provide maternal care for another animal's young.
