Female Japanese quail aggregate to avoid sexual harassment by conspecific males: a possible cause of conspecific cueing
نویسنده
چکیده
In a series of three experiments, we examined the hypothesis that female Japanese quail, Coturnix japonica, are motivated to form aggregations to reduce the probability of harassment by conspecific males. When in the presence of a conspecific male, female quail both sought others of their sex and remained near them. However, if no males were present, females were indifferent to or tended to avoid one another. We interpret these data as consistent with the hypothesis that one function of aggregations of female quail is to avoid harassment by conspecific males. Skew in male mating success would be a probable consequence of such aggregations of females.
منابع مشابه
Fertilized female quail avoid conspecific males: female tactics when potential benefits of new sexual encounters are reduced
In a pair of experiments, we determined whether recently fertilized Japanese quail, Coturnix japonica, with less to gain from new sexual encounters than females without sperm in their sperm-storage tubules, would reduce their probability of sexual harassment by avoiding conspecific males (experiment 1) and affiliating with conspecific females (experiment 2). We found that after copulating with ...
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