The pattern of care given an offspring by its mother. Many species reproduce generation after generation without receiving or providing any parental care. Insects and fish commonly produce vast numbers of offspring that they neither feed nor defend, resulting in the loss of many offspring to predators and to other hazards. Their great numbers, however, ensure that some will survive and reproduce. Also, if the young of a species are self-sufficient at birth or if they mature very rapidly after birth, they can often survive and reproduce with little parental care.