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Female red deer prefer the roars of larger males.
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 18:13 authored by Benjamin D Charlton, David Reby, Karen MccombSurprisingly little is known about the role of acoustic cues in mammal female mate choice. Here, we examine the response of female red deer (Cervus elaphus) to male roars in which an acoustic cue to body size, the formants, has been re-scaled to simulate different size callers. Our results show that oestrous red deer hinds prefer roars simulating larger callers and constitute the first evidence that female mammals use an acous- tic cue to body size in a mate choice context. We go on to suggest that sexual selection through female mating preferences may have provided an additional selection pressure along with male male competition for broadcasting size-related information in red deer and other mammals.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Biology LettersISSN
1744-9561Volume
3Page range
382-385Department affiliated with
- Psychology Publications
Notes
Third author. Supervised the project (jointly with David Reby), contributing to ideas, design and writing of the paper.Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2012-02-06Usage metrics
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