Cooperative Display and Relatedness Among Males in a Lek-Mating Bird

Long-tailed manakins mate in leks and cooperate in multiyear male-male partnerships. An alpha male is responsible for virtually all mating, whereas a beta male assists in the courtship displays. Such altruism by the beta male poses a problem for evolutionary theory because most theoretical treatment...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1994-11, Vol.266 (5187), p.1030-1032
Main Authors: McDonald, David B., Potts, Wayne K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alleles
Animal ethology
Animals
Aves
Base Sequence
Behavior
Biological and medical sciences
Birds
Birds - genetics
Birds - physiology
Chiroxiphia linearis
Coefficients
Collaboration
Cooperation
Cooperative Behavior
Copulation
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetic loci
Heterozygote
Kin selection
Lek behavior
Male
Male animals
Mating behavior
Molecular Sequence Data
Mutualism
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Reproductive success
Sexual Behavior, Animal
Vertebrata
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Summary:Long-tailed manakins mate in leks and cooperate in multiyear male-male partnerships. An alpha male is responsible for virtually all mating, whereas a beta male assists in the courtship displays. Such altruism by the beta male poses a problem for evolutionary theory because most theoretical treatments and empirical examples of cooperative behavior involve kin selection or reciprocity. Here it is shown that alpha and beta partners are not relatives and that reciprocity is not involved. Instead, direct, though long-delayed benefits to beta males are demonstrated, which include rare copulations, ascension to alpha status, and female lek fidelity. These benefits maintain this unusual form of male-male cooperation.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.7973654