Significance of Mother and Sibling Experience for Mating Preferences in the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

Abstract

Social attachment seems necessary for sexual imprinting. In mallards the likely period of social attachment is from hatching until the broods disperse. The potential imprinting objects are mother and siblings. Four combinations of mother‐sibling groups of same and different colour were used (N = 131). The groups were kept together from hatching until the young were 12 weeks old. When sexually mature, the birds' choices of mate were recorded. Colouration is an important cue in mate selection. Both mother and siblings are of importance. The effect of experimental factors cannot be attributed to any particular sex.

Optimal Outbreeding and the Development of Sexual Preferences in Japanese Quail

“…The available evidence suggests that sexual imprinting is delayed until the time when siblings are reasonably adult-like in appearance (BATESON 1979). Apart from the evidence presented in this paper, other studies have suggested that the characteristics of siblings do influence subsequent sexual preferences of captive Mallard (KLINT 1978) and, what is particularly important for a functional hypothesis, mating preference of Snow Geese living in their natural environment (COOKE 1978;COOKE and MCNALLY 1975).…”