Humans have evolved as a species that practices allomaternal care, where individuals other than the mother actively participate in childcare, due to its significant burden of raising children. However, this allomaternal care system, sustained for 200,000 years since the hunter-gatherer era, is now collapsing. The rise of nuclear families and dual-income households has led to the isolation of childcare, resulting in increased parenting anxiety and causing serious social problems such as declining birthrates and inappropriate childcare.

Rather than merely assigning blame to those directly involved, Dr. Takimoto aims to contribute to a more fundamental resolution of the social issues surrounding childcare, by understanding why and how mammals engage in allomaternal care, thereby probing the very essence of it.

Project Members

Principal Investigator

Ayaka Takimoto

Associate Professor
Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences
Hokkaido University
Takimoto Lab