AVIS-IBIS

Birds of Indian Subcontinent

Optimal Outbreeding and the Development of Sexual Preferences in Japanese Quail

Publication Type:Journal Article
Year of Publication:1980
Authors:Bateson, P
Journal:Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie
Volume:53
Issue:3
Date Published:1980
ISBN Number:1439-0310
Keywords:Coturnix, Coturnix coturnix, Coturnix japonica, Phasianidae
Abstract:Abstract Adult male Japanese quail and, to a lesser extent, adult females were likely to approach a member of the opposite sex which they had not seen before in preference to one with which they grew up. However, they only did this if the group in which they were reared when young contained a particular number of the opposite sex: two females in the case of males and three males in the case of females. The result is explained in terms of the likelihood of the novel member of the opposite sex being slightly different from those with which the birds grew up. If the number of individuals of the opposite sex is small, a novel one is likely to be unacceptably strange, and if the number is high any novel bird from a limited laboratory stock is likely to resemble one or other of the familiar birds. A functional explanation for the quail's behaviour in terms of optical outbreeding is discussed.
URL:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1980.tb01052.x
Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith