Male Monogamy and Polyandrous Females On another note, polyandrous females, females that have multiple male partners, permit each individual male to receive a clutch of eggs from her output, forcing males to conversely share their reproductive output with the polyandrous female with the other members of the harem. In turn, males provide all the parental care for the clutch deposited onto the nest whether the clutch or individual offspring are “his.” This leaves all “good” thus reproductively successful descendants (Alcock 2010). A similar example is seen in Stephen Emlem’s (1998) work on polyandry in species the Wattled Jacana (Jacana jacana) one in which female jacanas often copulated with multiple mates. The presence of both multiple
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A question remains though: why is being polyandrous so beneficial to females? Females gain direct benefits from being polyandrous including the presence of more resources and the capability of more care for her offspring. Both the “more-resource hypothesis” and the “more-care hypothesis” previously stated describes an increase in the effectiveness of parental care acted upon offspring when a female is polyandrous than when she is not. For example, in the Dunnock, a small European song bird, a female that lives in a territory controlled by one single alpha male, may actively encourage another, subordinate, beta or omega male to reside near her by seeking him out and copulating with him when the alpha male is not present in the territory. Female Dunnocks benefit to this technique because both males, the alpha and the subsidiary, will now assist her in rearing her …show more content…
Kevin and Kelvin), and a few minutes later forget who was who. Now imagine, walking into a room of physically and genetically identical friends, hundreds of them, how would you be able to recognize your closest friends to those that are mere strangers, and how are birds able to do this daily? The Kin Recognition Hypothesis according to Komdeur and Hatchwell (1999) states that parent-offspring recognition is based on individually distinctive markers evolved in response to maximizing direct fitness. For example, parents of bank swallows (Riparia riparia) use only visual cues to recognize their offspring. If the parents are simultaneously played a recorded auditory cue of their own offspring (with no visual stimuli) and a recorded auditory cue of offspring of the closely related rough-winged swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis), “bank-swallow parents failed to recognize the calls of their own offspring.” However, bank swallows could discriminate between their own offspring and those of rough-winged swallow when they were given visual stimulization (Komdeur, Hatchwell 1999). What would to happen now if birds adopted genetic strangers into their brood? It’s altruistic, but definitely requires a lot of time and effort into raising the child. So why do flying birds adopt and do they have a choice to do
A question remains though: why is being polyandrous so beneficial to females? Females gain direct benefits from being polyandrous including the presence of more resources and the capability of more care for her offspring. Both the “more-resource hypothesis” and the “more-care hypothesis” previously stated describes an increase in the effectiveness of parental care acted upon offspring when a female is polyandrous than when she is not. For example, in the Dunnock, a small European song bird, a female that lives in a territory controlled by one single alpha male, may actively encourage another, subordinate, beta or omega male to reside near her by seeking him out and copulating with him when the alpha male is not present in the territory. Female Dunnocks benefit to this technique because both males, the alpha and the subsidiary, will now assist her in rearing her …show more content…
Kevin and Kelvin), and a few minutes later forget who was who. Now imagine, walking into a room of physically and genetically identical friends, hundreds of them, how would you be able to recognize your closest friends to those that are mere strangers, and how are birds able to do this daily? The Kin Recognition Hypothesis according to Komdeur and Hatchwell (1999) states that parent-offspring recognition is based on individually distinctive markers evolved in response to maximizing direct fitness. For example, parents of bank swallows (Riparia riparia) use only visual cues to recognize their offspring. If the parents are simultaneously played a recorded auditory cue of their own offspring (with no visual stimuli) and a recorded auditory cue of offspring of the closely related rough-winged swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis), “bank-swallow parents failed to recognize the calls of their own offspring.” However, bank swallows could discriminate between their own offspring and those of rough-winged swallow when they were given visual stimulization (Komdeur, Hatchwell 1999). What would to happen now if birds adopted genetic strangers into their brood? It’s altruistic, but definitely requires a lot of time and effort into raising the child. So why do flying birds adopt and do they have a choice to do