Mate choice copying and conspecific cueing in Japanese quail, Coturnix coturnix japonica.

In four experiments, we examined the effects on the affiliative preferences of 'focal' female Japanese quail given the opportunity to watch a conspecific male interact with a 'model' female. Experiments were conducted in three, 10-min phases: (1) a pretest, during which a 'focal' female chose between two males; (2) an observation phase, when each focal female watched the male she had spent less time near during the pretest (her 'nonpreferred' male) interact with a 'model' quail; and (3) a post-test, during which each focal female again chose between her nonpreferred and preferred males. Focal females increased their preferences for nonpreferred males after seeing them together with a model female (but not a model male), even if the nonpreferred male and model female were separated by an opaque barrier that prevented them from interacting. A focal female's preference for the end of the enclosure containing her nonpreferred male was not increased when she either watched him court a concealed model female or watched a model female that was being courted by him. Taken together, the present results suggest that a simple tendency for females to approach areas where they have previously seen a male and female quail, in preference to locations where they have seen only a male quail, can explain some of the effect of watching a nonpreferred male mate on a female's tendency to affiliate with him. However, focal females also showed enhanced preferences for nonpreferred males they had seen mating after we both moved those males and controlled for effects of transposition. Thus, processes akin to both 'mate choice copying' and 'conspecific cueing' remain viable explanations for the increase in a focal female quail's tendency to affiliate with a male she watched mate with another female. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Determinants of the longevity of socially learned food preferences of Norway rats.

We conducted three experiments to examine variables that might influence the longevity of socially induced food preferences in Norway rats. The duration of social influence on the food choices of 42-day-old rats (1) increased with both increasing numbers of demonstrators and increasing numbers of demonstrations by a single demonstrator, (2) varied with the temporal distribution of demonstrations, but (3) did not vary with the age of demonstrators. The results suggest that a single episode of social learning produces short-term, but not long-term, effects on a Norway rat's food choices. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Mate-choice copying in Japanese quail, Coturnix coturnix japonica

We performed four experiments to examine effects on the mate choices of female Japanese quail, Coturnix coturnix japonica, of observing a male mate with another female. Each experiment was conducted in three phases: (1) a pre-test during which subject females were allowed to choose between two males with which to affiliate; (2) an observation phase, in which subject females either watched or did not watch the male they had spent less time near during the pre-test (their 'non-preferred' male) copulate with a 'model' female; and (3) a post-test when subject females again chose between non-preferred and preferred males. Only females that had watched their non-preferred male mate with a model female during the observation phase spent significantly more time affiliating with him during the post-test than they had during the pre-test. Watching mating did not change females' criteria for choosing males, and non-preferred males that had mated recently were no more attractive to females than were non-preferred males that had not done so, unless subject females actually observed the mating take place. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that female quail copy one another's mate choices. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Parenting and potency: alternative routes to reproductive success in male Mongolian gerbils

Adult male Mongolian gerbils, Meriones unguiculatusgestated in intrauterine positions between two female fetuses (2F males) are less likely than are adult males gestated between two male fetuses (2M males) to impregnate strange female gerbils with whom they are paired. The reduced copulatory success of 2F males is correlated with both lower circulating levels of and reduced sensitivity to testosterone. We asked whether 2F male gerbils compensated for their reduced copulatory success by increasing their parental effort. 2F male gerbils engaged in less sexual activity with their mates, but were more frequently in contact with pups than were 2M males, huddling over the young when their mates were absent from the nest. Although there were no differences in rates of survival or growth of pups reared by pairs consisting of a female and either a 2M or 2F male, mates of 2F males delivered significantly more pups as a consequence of copulations occurring during postpartum oestrus than did either mates of 2M males or females rearing young alone. We interpreted these results as consistent with Ketterson & Nolan's (1992, Am. Nat. (Supplement)140, 533-562) hypothesis of a testosterone-mediated trade-off between investment in sexual and parental behaviours.1997The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour

Socially acquired information reduces Norway rats' latencies to find food

Experiments have demonstrated that socially acquired information influences both where Norway rats, Rattus norvegicuslook for food and what foods they eat. The present studies were undertaken to determine whether rats could also use information acquired from conspecifics to determine when food had become available. Naive rats introduced either into colonies that had been trained to come to a feeding site when food was made available there or into colonies lacking such training. The former naive animals began to feed on introduced food with significantly shorter latencies than did the latter. Naive rats tended to leave a shelter they shared with others and travel to a feeding site after interacting at the shelter with a returning successful forager, but not after interacting there with a returning unsuccessful forager. Furthermore, naive rats that had been trained to eat a food, but not naive rats trained to avoid eating the same food, left shelter and went to a feeding site after interacting in the shelter with a returning forager that had eaten the food that naive rats had been trained either to eat or to avoid. All results were consistent with the view that naive colony members could learn that food had become available at a familiar feeding site by interacting with colony members that had recently eaten there.1997The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour