Cross-fostering

Cross-fostering is a technique used in animal husbandry, animal science, genetic and nature versus nurture studies, and conservation, whereby offspring are removed from their biological parents at birth and raised by surrogates. This can also occasionally occur in nature.

Cross-fostering young animals is usually done to equalize litter size. Individual animals born in large litters are faced with much more competition for resources, such as breast milk, food and space, than individuals born in smaller litters. Herd managers will typically move some individuals from a large litter to a smaller litter where they will be raised by a non-biological parent. This is typically done in pig farming because litters with up to 15 piglets are common. A sow with a large litter may have difficulty producing enough milk for all piglets, or the sow may not have enough functional teats to feed all piglets simultaneously. When this occurs, smaller or weaker piglets are at risk of starving to death. Herd managers will often transfer some piglets from a large litter to another lactating sow which either has a smaller litter or has had her own biological piglets recently weaned. Herd managers will typically try to equalize litters by number and also weight of individuals. When done successfully, cross-fostering reduces piglet mortality.

Cross-fostering can be used to study the impact of postnatal environment on genetic-linked diseases as well as on behavioural pattern. In behavioral studies, if cross-fostered offspring show a behavioral trait similar to their biological parents and dissimilar from their foster parents, a behavior can be shown to have a genetic basis. Similarly if the offspring develops traits dissimilar to their biological parents and similar to their foster parents environmental factors are shown to be dominant. In many cases there is a blend of the two, which shows both genes and environment play a part.

In animal studies, genetically hypertensive offspring reared by normotensive dams have been shown to have lower blood pressure compared to the controls. This shows that hypertensive genotype could be modified by the changes of the postnatal environment. Besides this, hyperkinetic animals reared by a normal dam have been shown to have lower locomotor activity compared to its controls.

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