Final answer:
In white-fronted bee eaters, sons don't resist harassment effectively due to parental-offspring conflict. Parents use altruistic behavior to protect their offspring. Sons may not resist harassment effectively because they are influenced by these parental strategies.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the white-fronted bee eaters, sons don't resist harassment effectively due to parental-offspring conflict. This conflict arises from the fact that sons have a higher potential for reproductive success if they stay in the nesting group, rather than dispersing and finding their own territory. By not resisting harassment, sons can gain benefits like increased access to food and decreased predation risk, which outweigh the costs of harassment.
For example, the parent bird may create a distraction by being aggressive and pretending to fight in order to attract the predator's attention away from the young fledgling. This behavior is considered altruistic as it increases the fitness of the offspring while potentially decreasing the fitness of the parent. Sons may not resist harassment effectively because they are influenced by these parental strategies.