Mating in bighorn sheep: frequent male reproduction via a high-risk “unconventional” tactic

@article{Hogg1997MatingIB,  title={Mating in bighorn sheep: frequent male reproduction via a high-risk “unconventional” tactic},  author={John T Hogg and Stephen H. Forbes},  journal={Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology},  year={1997},  volume={41},  pages={33-48},  url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:8265935}}
Male traits important in gaining social status and obtaining cooperative consorts with ewes were different and potentially in conflict with those needed to defend against (and practise) coursing, suggesting that sperm competition approximated a fair lottery.

189 Citations

Age-dependent sexual selection in bighorn rams

The results indicate that young or small rams possibly achieve mating success through alternative mating tactics that are less dependent on body and weapon size, such as coursing and blocking, and sexual selection is likely to have age–dependent effects on traits such as agility, body and horn size.

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42 References

Mating in bighorn sheep: multiple creative male strategies.

Rocky Mountain bighorn rams obtained copulations by defending single estrous ewes (tending), fighting tending rams for temporary access to defended ewes (coursing), or moving and holding ewes away…

Paternal investment inversely related to degree of extra-pair paternity in the reed bunting

An exceptionally high proportion of extra-pair paternity is found in a wild population of reed buntings using single-locus DNA fingerprinting and it is proposed that males can assess their likelihood of paternity and adjust their nestling provisioning rates accordingly.

Evidence for Mate Fidelity in the Gray Seal

Genetic analysis of pups born on the island of North Rona, Scotland, reveals large numbers of full siblings, although dominant males father disproportionately few of these.

Male Dimorphism as a Consequence of Sexual Selection

A number of insect species and red deer possess two forms of males differing from each other in the extent of development of devices involved in competition for females, which is a possible mechanism for the maintenance of a genetic polymorphism.

Sperm competition games: sneaks and extra-pair copulations

    G. Parker
    Biology, Mathematics
    Proceedings of the Royal Society of London…
  • 1990
Ejaculation strategies for cases when an opportunist male ‘steals’ a mating with the female of a paired male are examined, an evolutionary game of competitive ejaculation in which two (or more) males mate with the same female.

Reproductive and genetic consequences of founding isolated lion populations

In an examination of three distinct lion populations, a direct correlation was observed between genetic variability and two physiological traits, incidence of abnormal sperm and circulating testosterone, a critical hormone for spermatogenesis.

Pronghorn females choose vigorous mates

At the National Bison Range (western Montana, U.S.A.) mate choice by female pronghorn, Antilocapra americana, is clearly observable, and the behaviour of females is a likely case of mate selection by a good genes criterion.

Intraspecific Variations in Mating Strategy

Variability in behavior is examined in broad taxonomic scope with particular reference to mating strategies. The variety of strategy sets exhibited by a wide range of species is reviewed briefly and…

Age-Specific Reproduction of Bighorn Ewes in Alberta, Canada

The question of whether age affects the probability of producing a lamb, lambing date, and lamb survival to autumn of bighorn ewes is addressed.

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