Excellent questions, Fatmop!
To Ceridwen: I had never even considered nurture to be an aspect of evolution before. As much as I would like to believe it provides answers, it also raises questions:
Nurture, although not as huge as 'regular' natural selection, can play a part in evolution. In fact, even some natural selection is based on behavior of animals istead of their genes, ability to survive, etc. For instance, some species are separated not because they cannot produce fertile offspring which can then go on to have fertile offspring of their own. In fact, some animals are perfectly capable of successfully mating with each other, as far as biology goes, but they never do because, for instance, they have different mating dances or calls. Due to their different behaviors, which are learned from their parents, they do not attract each other, and therefore never mate in the wild.
Which animals exhibit mimicry of their parents?
Any animal which is raised by its mother/parents after it is born/hatches will learn certain things by mimicking their parents and others of their kind. That is, after all, the main purpose for why they would stay with their parents besides protection. To offer some examples: A foal (baby horse) whos mother dies in childbirth and is therefore left as an orphan is thought of as "no good" to most horse people. This is because such horses are never properly taught how to behave by another horse. In such instances, breeders will put the foal with a goat to keep it company, (the horsie would still be too small to go out with the often hostile older horses). In such instances, the horse will develop goat-like characteristics such as putting their front feet up on the fences to stand on the fences, and altering their natural whinny to resemple a goat's bray. There are also stories of abandoned children who are raised in wolf-packs and grow to mimic wolves, etc.
The most obvious example of mimicry can be seen in how human babies respond to their parents. Babies mimic the way their parents walk, talk, eat, everything!
Most fish and amphibians obviously do not mimic their parents, because most are externally fertilized and left to hatch, and never meet their parents.
How did the young develop such a trait?
Young of any species, even humans, are born with certain instincts. Everyone has the inherent instinct for survival, etc. For instance, one does not have to teach a young child how to lie--they figure that idea out by themselves pretty quickly. Of course, staying out of trouble is different than surviving on many levels, but they follow along the same basic lines.
That said, everything that the offspring is NOT born with must be taught to them by way of mimicry. If a human baby is raised by wolves for instance, they will not spontaneously and individually learn to speak English and make facial and body movements appropriate to human communication. On the contrary, they will learn to use their voice to mimic wolf sounds, and they will learn the body language of a wolf.
Did you realize that mimicry is actually evidence FOR ID?????
I don't understand how this is so--could you please explain?