Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Ophir, Alexander G
• Galef, Bennett G

Titel

Female Japanese quail that ‘eavesdrop’ on fighting males prefer losers to winners

Ist Teil von

• Animal behaviour, 2003-08, Vol.66 (2), p.399-407

Ort / Verlag

Kent: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2003

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• In a series of four experiments, we examined the relationship between male dominance and female preference in Japanese quail, Coturnix japonica. Female quail that had watched an aggressive interaction between a pair of males preferred the loser of an encounter to its winner. This superficially perverse female preference for losers may be explained by the strong correlation between the success of a male in aggressive interactions with other males and the frequency with which he engages in courtship behaviours that appear potentially injurious to females. By choosing to affiliate with less dominant male quail, female quail may lose direct and indirect benefits that would accrue from pairing with dominant males. However, they also avoid the cost of interacting with potentially harmful, more aggressive males.