Male zebra finches have limited ability to identify high-fecundity females

Daiping Wang, Nele Kempenaers, Bart Kempenaers and Wolfgang Forstmeier

Behavioral Ecology, 2017, vol. 28, issue 3, 784-792

Abstract: Lay Summary In species where males contribute substantially to parental care, males are expected to be choosy. Males should benefit from selecting a female of high fecundity, but it is unclear to what extent males are able to judge female fecundity before breeding. Here we show that male zebra finches seem to have only limited abilities to identify the better mate when faced with a choice between extremes in terms of female fecundity.

Keywords: body size; female fecundity; male mate choice; mate choice cues; ornaments; preferences; quality indicators; sexual selection. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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