Tragelaphus angasii (Nyala) of the Bovidae family, known and familiar to southern Africa, can be observed and studied for the size of its elaborate, slightly twisted horns. This trait can be seen as an adaptative trait due to the variety of horn lengths and sizes in Bovids, as well as a heritable trait, due to the continual frequency in horns throughout generations, in the species of Nyala. The adaptivity and heritability of this trait can be analyzed through the natural history of the species of Bovids, observing how horns are used in combat as a sign of defense to other males of their same species (Lundrigan 1996). What is currently known on this species is how different lengths of horns are used in different forms of combat (Lundrigan 1996),
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angasii (Anderson 1980). Testing horn length not only provides information of the species morphology but as well informs on how these different morphologies affect day to day life of this form of Nyala. A major category explored includes the ability to attract mates; this can be seen as an adaptive trait by assessing T. angasii in light of sexual selective behaviour by evaluating their horn length as a possible advantage over other males with shorter horns in terms of opportunities to mate with females. This trait can be assessed by addressing how this species use their horns to attract females by perhaps fighting other males for mates or using them as a sign of dominance over other males with less elaborate and shorter horns. Females tend to choose males with traits they would like their offspring to carry (Balmford and Read …show more content…
A possible result in my experiment that would not reject my null hypothesis would be if there was no distinct pattern of mating between females and males with long and short horns and females actually mated equally with males of longer and shorter horns. Possible results of my experiment that would reject my null hypothesis would be if females preferred to mate with males of one specific horn length over the other. Therefore, males with longer horns are preferred companions over shorter horns, or perhaps, males with shorter horns are preferred over males with longer horns. In those two cases, there would be a distinct mating pattern, therefore, showing that horn length does matter in terms of sexual selection and mate
angasii (Anderson 1980). Testing horn length not only provides information of the species morphology but as well informs on how these different morphologies affect day to day life of this form of Nyala. A major category explored includes the ability to attract mates; this can be seen as an adaptive trait by assessing T. angasii in light of sexual selective behaviour by evaluating their horn length as a possible advantage over other males with shorter horns in terms of opportunities to mate with females. This trait can be assessed by addressing how this species use their horns to attract females by perhaps fighting other males for mates or using them as a sign of dominance over other males with less elaborate and shorter horns. Females tend to choose males with traits they would like their offspring to carry (Balmford and Read …show more content…
A possible result in my experiment that would not reject my null hypothesis would be if there was no distinct pattern of mating between females and males with long and short horns and females actually mated equally with males of longer and shorter horns. Possible results of my experiment that would reject my null hypothesis would be if females preferred to mate with males of one specific horn length over the other. Therefore, males with longer horns are preferred companions over shorter horns, or perhaps, males with shorter horns are preferred over males with longer horns. In those two cases, there would be a distinct mating pattern, therefore, showing that horn length does matter in terms of sexual selection and mate