Peacocks lek with relatives even in the absence of social and environmental cues
Peacocks lek with relatives even in the absence of social and environmental cues
复制标题
即使没有社会和环境线索，孔雀也会与亲戚在一起
作者：
M. Petrie;A. Krupa;T. Burke
Lek 交配系统的特点是雄性成群出现。群体展示的主要好处被认为是增加了与雄性相比到达的雌性数量。然而，当交配成功率高度偏差时，尚不清楚为什么不成功的雄性会参与群体展示。理论上，如果展示群体由相关个体组成，所有处于 leks 的雄性都可以获得间接的健康益处。在这里，我们提供了两组独立的数据，表明孔雀（Pavo cristatus）的表现与其亲属很接近。 DNA 指纹分析显示，惠普斯奈德公园的雄性与同一列中的雄性的亲缘关系比与其他列中的雄性的亲缘关系更密切。另外，我们发现，在对一组相关和不相关的雄性进行实验释放后，兄弟（父系同胞或同父异母的同胞）在非常靠近的地方建立了永久的展示场所。这个结果是出乎意料的，因为被释放的鸟儿在发育过程中无法与它们的兄弟熟悉。被释放的幼崽是用产下后不久从父母那里取出的蛋孵化出来的，并与非亲属的蛋混合在一起。这些数据表明鸟类可以进化出一种亲属关联方式，这种方式不涉及学习亲属的特征或使用环境线索。如果社会学习对于亲缘关联不是必需的，那么亲缘效应在鸟类社会互动中可能比以前认识到的更广泛重要，特别是在 lek 交配的进化中。
Lek mating systems are characterized by males displaying in groups. The main benefit from group display is thought to be an increase in the number of females arriving per male. However, when mating success is highly skewed it is not clear why unsuccessful males participate in group display. In theory, all males on leks could obtain indirect fitness benefits if displaying groups consisted of related individuals. Here we present two independent sets of data that show that peacocks (Pavo cristatus) display close to their kin. DNA fingerprinting showed that males at Whipsnade Park were more closely related to males within the same lek than to males at other leks. Separately, we found that after an experimental release of a mixed group of related and unrelated males, brothers (paternal sibs or half-sibs) established permanent display sites very close together. This result is unexpected, as the released birds could not become familiar with their brothers during their development. The released young were hatched from eggs that had been removed from their parents shortly after laying and mixed with the eggs of non-relatives. These data indicate that birds can evolve a means of kin association that does not involve learning the characteristics of relatives or the use of environmental cues. If social learning is not necessary for kin association then kin effects may be of more widespread importance in avian social interactions, and in particular in the evolution of lek mating, than previously appreciated.