Fertilized female quail avoid conspecific males: female tactics when potential benefits of new sexual encounters are reduced

Abstract

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 a male, female quail that were laying fertilized eggs spent less time near males and more time near females than female quail laying unfertilized eggs. Furthermore, females that were denied access to males for 14 days (i.e. those with empty sperm-storage tubules) and females that failed to lay fertile eggs after copulation behaved similarly towards conspecific males and females. We interpret these results as indicating that the cost to female quail of interacting with males of their species has led to the evolution of female tactics to avoid male harassment when females' eggs are successfully fertilized and potential reproductive benefits of additional sexual encounters are reduced.