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In animal societies, individual fitness partly depends on a decision on whether or not to provide parental care, and the number of mating partners. The later defines a social mating system, whereas consequences of copulations, namely breeding, define a genetic mating system, which may or may not be the same, i.e. monogamous, polyandrous, polygynous or promiscuous. Copulations and breeding are means to produce offspring, whereas parental care is a means to ensure offspring survival and ultimately its reproduction. In terms of fitness, parental care benefits the parents but can also incur cos...