© 1992 International Society for Behavioral Ecology
research-article |
To lek or not to lek: mating strategies of male fallow deer
Istituto Nazionale di Biologia della Selvaggina "A. Ghigi," Via Ca' Fornacetta 9, 40064 Ozzano Emilia (BO), Italy Large Animal Research Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK Via Lanino 8, 20144 Milano, Italy Dipartimento di Biologia e Fisiologia Generali, Sezione Zoologia, Viale delle Scienze 43100 Parma, Italy Dipartimento di Scienze del Comportamento Animale e dell'Uomo Via Volta 6, 56126 Pisa, Italy Centro di Faunistica Tropicale CNR, Via Romana 17,50125 Firenze, Italy
Address reprint requests to M. Apollonio, who is now at the Dipartimento di Scienze del Comportamento Animale e dell'Uomo, Via Volta 6, 56126 Pisa, Italy. M. Festa-Bianchet is now at the Department de Biologie, Universite de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, J1K2R1, Canada
ABSTRACT
We studied the mating system of fallow deer (Dama dama) for 6 years in central Italy. Males in this population could defend territories that were either single, clumped in leks, or satellite to leks. The most highly successful males in our study were in leks. When we considered all males, there were no significant differences in average copulatory success according to territory type because many lek males did not achieve any copulations, which were seen in only a few lek territories. The variance in copulatory success, however, was much greater for leks than elsewhere. Single territories were occupied for shorter times during the rut than lek territories. Fighting among males was more frequent in the lek, even when we excluded highly successful lek males from the analysis. Chases of nonterritorial males and harem size were correlated with the number of copulations achieved by individual males, but did not vary according to territory type. Copulatory success of some individuals increased with age, but there were no age differences among males holding different types of territories. Satellite males switched to lek territoriality in the course of one rut, but switches from single territory to lek territory were rare. We suggest that males in single territories are inferior competitors that select a low-risk, lowbenefit strategy, whereas those in lek territories where no copulations were seen may be attempting to establish themselves on the lek to increase their copulatory success in future years.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  K. Isvaran and C. M. St. Mary When should males lek? Insights from a dynamic state variable model Behav. Ecol., November 1, 2003; 14(6): 876 - 886. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. P. Poston, R. H. Wiley, and D. F. Westneat Male rank, female breeding synchrony, and patterns of paternity in the boat-tailed grackle Behav. Ecol., July 1, 1999; 10(4): 444 - 451. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|