Published in Animal Behaviour
Highlights ► In a wide variety of taxa, males are equipped with harmful genital structures. ► One suggested function for genital spines has been that they function as an anchor. ► We used five populations of seed beetles to test this hypothesis. ► We show that longer genital spines do not function as better anchors during mating. ► We also show tha...
Published in Animal Behaviour
Highlights ► We examined whether female prairie voles prefer males with long avpr1a microsatellite alleles. ► Females showed social and sexual preferences for males with long avpr1a microsatellite alleles. ► Females from two natural populations behaved similarly. ► Prior laboratory studies showed that males with longer avpr1a microsatellite alleles...
Published in Animal Behaviour
In social species with fission–fusion dynamics, individuals have the opportunity to recruit other individuals selectively by calling. An individual’s decision to call to another could be determined by previous interactions with that individual, which would require individuals to be able to discriminate others based on their vocalizations and associ...
Published in Animal Behaviour
Lateralization in dogs, Canis familiaris, has been reported for paw usage and response to visual and acoustic stimuli. Surprisingly, however, no investigation of possible lateralization for the most relevant sensory domain of dogs, namely olfaction, has been carried out. Here we investigated left and right nostril use in dogs freely sniffing differ...
Published in Animal Behaviour
Highlights► The giant water bug Abedus herberti exhibits two respiratory behaviours. ► These behaviours increase the time that the bugs may remain submerged in water. ► Expression is greatest in deep water and less common in shallow water. ► These behaviours most likely increase fitness and decrease energy use.
Published in Animal Behaviour
Published in Animal Behaviour
Published in Animal Behaviour
Highlights ► Cephalic secretions occur in male Oedothorax retusus spiders. ► Experimentally covered males are compared to noncovered males. ► We investigate effects of secretions on mating, oviposition and paternity. ► Secretions function as precopulatory mating effort and stimulate female fecundity. ► Females do not selectively use sperm of males ...
Published in Animal Behaviour
Although some group-living animals dynamically modify sexual signals in response to changes in social or reproductive status, this ability is often limited by constraints inherent in the mechanism of signal production. In birds, for example, inflexible moult schedules may restrict the ability to rapidly modify plumage-based signals. In such cases, ...
Published in Animal Behaviour
