In a group of animals (usually a litter of animals born in multiple births), a runt is a member which is smaller and/or weaker than the others. Due to its small size, a runt in a litter faces obvious disadvantages, including difficulties with competing with its siblings for survival and possible rejection from its mother. Therefore, in the wild, a runt is less likely to survive infancy.
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- In a group of animals (usually a litter of animals born in multiple births), a runt is a member which is smaller and/or weaker than the others. Due to its small size, a runt in a litter faces obvious disadvantages, including difficulties with competing with its siblings for survival and possible rejection from its mother. Therefore, in the wild, a runt is less likely to survive infancy. In his book the Selfish Gene, biologist Richard Dawkins speculates that runts may be a parent's way of 'hedging its bets' — if food is plentiful, it gets an extra offspring, if not, it lets it die having only invested little in it in the first place. This may generate parent-offspring conflict. Even among domestic animals, runts often face rejection. They may be placed under the direct care of an experienced animal breeder, although the animal's size and weakness coupled with the lack of natural parental care make this difficult. Some tamed animals are the result of reared runts. Backyard breeders often come under fire for the rearing of unusually small dogs of toy breeds, which most dog clubs condemn as deliberately perpetuating runts that may incur future health complications and expensive veterinary care.
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- this article is incomplete, makes extensive use of weasel words, and has very few sources
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- In a group of animals (usually a litter of animals born in multiple births), a runt is a member which is smaller and/or weaker than the others. Due to its small size, a runt in a litter faces obvious disadvantages, including difficulties with competing with its siblings for survival and possible rejection from its mother. Therefore, in the wild, a runt is less likely to survive infancy.
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