2006/01/10 by Joop Jukema, Theunis Piersma · 4 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Animal Behavior and Reproduction #Plant and animal studies #Avian ecology and behavior #Biology #Lek mating #Mating #Zoology #Paternal care #Lizard #Mate choice #Ecology
paper · doi:10.1098/rsbl.2005.0416
openalex publication_date 2006/01/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Female mimics are known from many species, but permanent, non-conditional, alternative mating strategies are only known from an isopod, a fish, a lizard and a bird. The single bird example refers to lek-breeding ruffs Philomachus pugnax, a shorebird for which two strategies (independent and satellite) have been known for over 50 years. Ruffs also provided the single case of an animal with two, rather than three, permanent alternative mating strategies. Here, we describe a rare female-like morph of ruffs: the 'missing' third alternative mating strategy, which we have called 'faeder'. Faeders are slightly larger than females and in late April have testes 2.5 time the size of testes of normal males. On leks in aviaries and in the wild they appear to combine feminine and masculine behaviours. Faeders may represent the ancestral, care-giving, male strategy, but their relatively large testes suggest that currently they behave as sneakers.