Parental care is exhibited by?

Analyze the question: The question asks which of the listed animals shows parental care. Parental care means a parent protects, feeds, or looks after its eggs or young until they can survive independently.

Explain the concept: Parental care appears mostly in higher animals such as birds and mammals. These animals invest a lot of energy in fewer offspring, so they protect them to improve their chances of survival. Animals that lay many eggs and leave them (many invertebrates, fish and amphibians) show little or no parental care. They rely on producing large numbers of eggs instead.

Solution, option by option:

• A. Snails: They lay eggs in moist soil and leave them. There is no parental care.
• B. Earthworms: They deposit eggs in a cocoon in the soil and leave. There is no parental care.
• C. Birds: They build nests, incubate the eggs, and feed and protect the chicks after hatching. This is clear parental care.
• D. Toads: They lay eggs in water, often in large numbers, and abandon them. The tadpoles fend for themselves. There is no parental care.

Answer: Birds show parental care, so the answer is C.

Tip: In JAMB questions about parental care, think "few offspring, high care" (birds, mammals) versus "many offspring, no care" (snails, worms, toads, most fish). If a bird or mammal is among the options, it is usually the answer.