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Science 22 April 1983:
Vol. 220. no. 4595, pp. 413 - 415
DOI: 10.1126/science.220.4595.413
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Articles

Female Moorhens Compete for Small Fat Males

MARION PETRIE 1

1 School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom

Female moorhens in flocks competed with each other to obtain mates. The heaviest females won most of the agonistic encounters, and these females paired with males that had large fat reserves. Fat males tended to be small, possibly because of energetic constraints on birds of large body size. Females paired with fat males initiated more nesting attempts in a season.

Submitted on October 27, 1982


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)