Even birds have evil stepdads

The New Zealand Herald featured research by Martha Nelson-Flower, a postdoctoral fellow at UBC’s faculty of forestry, on favouritism in relationships between an African desert-dwelling male bird and their offspring.

Nelson-Flower found that subordinate male southern pied babbler birds spend less time in a group when they are not related to the dominant male bird.

“Nepotism has likely played a vital role in the evolution of family life in this species,” Nelson-Flower said.

A similar story appeared on Motherboard.