Male New Zealand robins (Petroica longipes) cater to their mate\u2019s desire when sharing food in the wild

Rachael C Shaw,Nicola S Clayton,Kevin C Burns,Regan D Mackinlay

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-00879-1

Rachael C Shaw, Nicola S Clayton + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00879-1

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Abstract

In many species that have bi-parental care, food-sharing males provide vital nutritional resources to their mates during reproduction. However, it is currently unknown whether females can signal specific desires to their mates, or if males can cater to female desire in the wild. Here we investigate whether and how wild male North Island robins (Petroica longipes) respond to changes in their mates’ desires and nutritional need when sharing food. We demonstrate that wild female robins’ desire for particular foods changes over short time periods; when given the choice between two types of insect larvae, females prefer the type they have not recently eaten. In our experiments, wild male robins preferentially shared the larvae type that their mate was most likely to desire and also increased the quantity of food shared if she had begun incubating. Males catered to their mates’ desire when female behaviour was the only cue available to guide their choices. This is the first evidence that females may behaviourally communicate their specific food desires to their mates, enabling males to cater to fine-scale changes in their mates’ nutritional requirements in the wild. Such a simple behaviour-reading mechanism has the potential to be widespread among other food-sharing species.

Highlights

Across the animal kingdom, a diverse array of species share food during courtship or copulation[1, 2]
Males have been shown to attend to the specific type of food the female is most likely to want during courtship feeding[9, 10]. It is currently unknown whether females in the wild can signal the type of food that they currently want to their mates, or whether males can, or do, cater to female desire
Robins provide an ideal opportunity to evaluate whether males can flexibly adjust both the type and quantity of food shared in response to changing female desire and nutritional need in the wild

Summary

Introduction

A diverse array of species share food during courtship or copulation[1, 2]. Males have been shown to attend to the specific type of food the female is most likely to want during courtship feeding[9, 10] It is currently unknown whether females in the wild can signal the type of food that they currently want to their mates, or whether males can, or do, cater to female desire (i.e. transient changes in the subjective value that particular food items hold). Male jays responded to changes in their mates’ desires for particular foods (induced via specific satiety), but only if they had seen what she had eaten immediately prior to sharing[9]. The aim of this study was to investigate whether and how wild male robins cater to changes in their mates’ desire when sharing food. We allowed the male to take one item and waited for him to share it with the female, eat it, or cache it, before offering him the choice between

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