Abstract
A study I conducted suggested that female mallards chose males based on natural variation in individual ornaments, especially the bill. Ornament manipulations were used to test experimentally whether females were choosing males based on ornament appearance. Four experiments were conducted: anterior shaving (removed the outer colored part of the head, neck and breast feathers), wing patch clipping, bill blackening and bill yellowing. Anterior shaving caused 15 of 16 males to have lower pairing success. Wing patch clipping did not affect pairing success. Bill blackening caused a significant decrease in rank pairing success, and bill yellowing caused a weaker, but not significant, decrease in success. Furthermore, the latter three manipulations had no significant effect on male dominance rank. Taken together with the findings of the natural variation study, this work shows that female preferences directly select for male ornamentation.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
