Peacock copulation calls attract distant females

Abstract

Males often continuously emit vocalizations during the breeding season that attract female mates. They can also emit calls that are specifically associated with copulations but the function of these copulation calls is often unknown. We explored the function of male copulation calls in wild and captive peafowl (Pavo cristatus) to test whether these calls attract female mating partners. By broadcasting male copulation calls, we assessed whether these playbacks affected female behavior. Females approached and spent more time near the speaker in response to copulation playback trials compared to control trials (no sound broadcast) in the wild and compared to control trials (American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) calls broadcast) in captivity. Our results, therefore, suggest that peacock copulation calls function to attract additional female mating partners. Because peafowl live in habitats with dense vegetation, loud copulation calls may help females locate potential mates.

Through their eyes: selective attention in peahens during courtship

“…Because dense vegetation can obscure the lower train of a peacock in the bird's native habitat (J.L.Y., personal observation) (Yorzinski and Anoop, 2013) (supplementary material Fig.S2B), we performed trials in which we obscured the lower part of male trains and therefore mimicked the natural situation in which peahens would only be able to see the upper train from a distance. In these trials, we placed the females close to the stimuli so that we could obtain accurate gaze measurements and we recorded their gaze (recording from the left eye of the birds and correcting for parallax errors by measuring the distance between the bird and stimuli) in March 2012.…”

Sexual selection and ‘species recognition’ revisited: serial processing and order-of-operations in mate choice

“…Such a complex multi-modal display does not preclude serial processing however: female manakins evaluate potential mates at leks of conspecific males, not at beehives, fig trees or waterfalls; evaluation of a pool of potential mates at leks suggests prior evaluation of an appropriate time and place to select among generally compatible potential mates. In various taxa, leks are often advertised by broadcast calls (hummingbirds [91]; flycatchers [92]; peafowl [93]; manakins [94,95]; frogs [96,97]; birds-of-paradise [98]). Therefore, even lek mating systems might be interpreted as following order-of-operations in mate choice, with the elaborate multi-modal on-lek displays constituting only the second step of discrimination.…”

Not by the light of the moon: Investigating circadian rhythms and environmental predictors of calling in Bornean great argus

“…We found differences in use of the different call types which were consistent with the proposed functions territorial versus female attraction [ 50 ] but the use of playbacks ( e . g ., [ 81 ]) could help further elucidate differences in function of the two call types. In addition, the differences in reported activity patterns—i.e.…”