Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Stillman, R. A.
Right arrow Articles by Sutherland, W. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Stillman, R. A.
Right arrow Articles by Sutherland, W. J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1993 International Society for Behavioral Ecology

research-article

Black holes, mate retention, and the evolution of ungulate leks

R. A. Stillman, T. H. cutton-Brock and W. J. Sutherland

Joint Nature Conservation Committee Monkstone House, City Road, Peterborough PE1 1JY, UK Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 OEJ, UK School of Biological Sciences University of East Anglia Norwich, Norfolk NR4 7JT, UK

Address reprint request to T. H. Clutton Brock

ABSTRACT

In some ungulates living in unstable herds, females in estrus leave their usual groups and join males defending mating territories. During the 12-24 h before mating, females commonly move several times between males. These movements are commonly caused by harems being disrupted by young males or by overenthusiastic courtship by the territorial male. When females leave a territory they typically move to its nearest neighbor. Under these circumstances, clusters of territories can retain estrous females until they mate and leave the lek. This paper develops a model to investigate the benefits of defending clustered versus dispersed territories to males and the consequences of variation in the rate of female movement between territories (Pm) and the tendency for females to move from one territory to a neighboring territory (a). Where females move between territories at least once every 24 h (Pm < 0.04) and usually move to neighboring territories (a < 0.5), the mating success of males is inversely related to the distance from their territory to its nearest neighbor, and males defending clustered territories have higher mating rates than those defending dispersed territories. This process may be important in the initial evolution of ungulate leks, which may resemble black holes, attracting and retaining estrous females until they mate and their estrus ceases. It provides one possible explanation of the evolution of ungulate leks that does not rely on female preferences for mating with particular phenotypic categories of males.

Key words: mammals, leks, matechoice.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
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]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
J. Bro-Jorgensen
From the Cover: Overt female mate competition and preference for central males in a lekking antelope
PNAS, July 9, 2002; 99(14): 9290 - 9293.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
J. Carranza and J. Valencia
Red deer females collect on male clumps at mating areas
Behav. Ecol., September 1, 1999; 10(5): 525 - 532.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.