An alloparent is an individual that cares for a young individual, but it is not its genetic parent. This behaviour is known in many species of animals, but some groups are still underreported. Here, we documented, in camera footage, the alloparental feeding of two chicks of the little auk, a crevice‐nesting seabird. This is the first evidence of this behaviour in the little auk despite similar monitoring undertaken between 2016 and 2022 and the second record for a crevice/burrow‐nesting seabird. We compared chicks that were fed by an alloparent to other chicks from the same year and explored reasons for the behaviour in the context of seabird breeding biology.

中文翻译：

---

缝隙筑巢海鸟——小海雀的异亲喂养的第一个证据

同种异亲是指照顾幼年个体的个体，但不是其遗传父母。许多动物物种都有这种行为，但有些动物群体的报道仍然较少。在这里，我们用摄像机镜头记录了小海雀（一种在缝隙中筑巢的海鸟）的两只雏鸟的异亲喂养。尽管在 2016 年至 2022 年期间进行了类似的监测，但这是小海雀这种行为的第一个证据，也是缝隙/洞穴筑巢海鸟的第二个记录。我们将由异亲喂养的雏鸟与同年的其他雏鸟进行了比较，并在海鸟繁殖生物学的背景下探讨了这种行为的原因。