Left-sided directional bias of cloacal contacts during tree swallow copulations

Most female birds have only a left ovary and associated oviduct with entry to the oviduct on the left side of the urodeum of the cloaca. We hypothesized that male cloacal contacts during copulation would occur from the left side of females because this would put sperm closer to the entrance of the o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animal behaviour 2001-10, Vol.62 (4), p.739-741
Main Authors: Petersen, Aaron D., Lombardo, Michael P., Power, Harry W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal ethology
Animal reproduction
Aves
Biological and medical sciences
Birds
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Vertebrata
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Most female birds have only a left ovary and associated oviduct with entry to the oviduct on the left side of the urodeum of the cloaca. We hypothesized that male cloacal contacts during copulation would occur from the left side of females because this would put sperm closer to the entrance of the oviduct. We observed that cloacal contacts from the left outnumbered those from the right by a margin of 3:1 during tree swallow, Tachycineta bicolor, copulations at nestboxes in western Michigan in 1999. The directional bias of cloacal contacts may have an adaptive function.
ISSN:0003-3472
1095-8282
DOI:10.1006/anbe.2001.1791