K strategists are very different in that they attempt to ensure the survival of their offspring by
investing time in them, instead of investing in lots of them. It is a reproductive strategy that
focuses on quality over quantity. K strategist have relatively few offspring and make an
effort at being good parents. Their young are altricial meaning that they cannot survive on
their own until they reach adulthood. This extended period of maturation is used for
memetic transference- the parents teach the young so that they can go on to reproduce
themselves. K strategists are known to have a relatively long life span, produce relatively
few offspring, the offspring have low mortality rates and the parents provide extensive
parental care. The offspring are also relatively intelligent so that they can internalize the
lessons from their parents. K-selected species include elephants, apes and whales.
Humans are perhaps the most K-selected because their young are truly helpless- they
necessitate a full two decades of parental care and tutelage and the parents usually only
produce one offspring at a time.