Males respond to female begging signals of need: a handicapping experiment in the pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The 'female nutrition' hypothesis proposes that food provided by males during incubation is an important energy source for females in bird species in which females alone incubate. Females should be able to communicate their needs through begging signals to mates and males may compensate for the energetic limitations of females through their feeding visits, owing to their overlapping reproductive interests. To test whether female begging during incubation is an honest signal of energetic need and whether mates respond to it we experimentally handicapped female pied flycatchers at the beginning of incubation by clipping two primary flight feathers on each wing. Experimental manipulation led females to intensify begging displays arising from condition impairment and males accordingly increased their incubation feeding rates.Female begging intensity explained more than half of the variation in male incubation feeding rate, thereby showing that female nutrition is the main factor explaining male incubation feeding. Moreover, handicapped females consumed a higher proportion of male food deliveries during the first few days after hatching and weighed less at the end of the nestling period than control females.

Meat sharing between male and female Guinea baboons (<i>Papio papio</i>)

“…Our field observations of Guinea baboons support the idea that existing non-kin social relationships influence foodsharing patterns (Cantarero et al, 2014;Carter and Wilkin- son, 2013;De Waal, 1997;Marlowe, 2003). As only males were observed to capture prey, females had no immediate access to meat, but acquired portions of the carcass via passive sharing by their primary male, with whom they had a pre-existing relationship.…”

“…As such, males who do not tolerate and share with their females may risk losing social and sexual partners (Jaeggi and van Schaik, 2011), and males may therefore receive a long-term benefit for tolerating their females and sharing with them during food consumption events. On the other hand, females may simply benefit from gaining increased access to food (Strum, 1981), which might result in reproductive benefits during times of nutritional need (Cantarero et al, 2014;Marlowe, 2003). However, these two hypotheses are not mutually exclusive.…”

“…Multiple units come together to forage, sleep and travel together 70-100 % of the time and form parties (Goffe et al, 2016;Patzelt et al, 2014), and two or more parties associating together 12 % of the time or greater are in the same gang (Patzelt et al, 2014). As non-kin social relationships have been shown to influence food-sharing patterns in a variety of species (Cantarero et al, 2014;Carter and Wilkinson, 2013;De Waal, 1997;Marlowe, 2003) we expected to find a similar pattern in Guinea baboons.…”

“…To date, carnivorous behaviours have been reported in five baboon species (Butynski, 1982;Teleki, 1975), although details regarding the social factors responsible for patterns in meat eating have not been fully investigated for all of them. Savannah baboons, chacma (Papio ursinus), olive (P. anubis) and yellow baboons (P. cynocephalus), live in multimale multi-female groups where males form a linear dominance hierarchy and compete for reproductive access to females (Swedell, 2011).…”

Interactive vocal communication at the nest by parent Great TitsParus major

“…, Moore & Rohwer , Cantarero et al . ). Mate feeding in the early breeding stages has been suggested to have evolved as a compensatory energetic strategy in species in which the female incubates and builds the nest alone (Galván & Sanz ).…”