Date: February 6, 2019
Source: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Among the
first things that stand out about golden-collared manakins, a bird found in
Panama and western Colombia, are the acrobatics of male adults during breeding
season. Males also emit a particular call, the 'chee-poo', to attract females.
In a new paper published in Animal Behaviour, Smithsonian researchers
Ioana Chiver and Barney Schlinger explore the role of androgens -- male
hormones -- in the expression of this vocal behavior, by administering
testosterone to females and juvenile males.
In
previous research by these scientists, testosterone implants motivated juvenile
males to perform all the courtship acrobatics of male adults, while females
performed some of them. Thanks to video recordings of these behaviors, she was
able to extract the vocalizations made by female manakins and juvenile males
that were administered testosterone. She then compared them to the
vocalizations of untreated females, untreated juvenile males, as well as adult
males in the wild.
When
implanted with testosterone, female manakins were able to produce the
male-specific 'chee-poo' vocalization, while untreated females were not. This
may indicate that the neuromuscular systems associated with this mating call
are present in the females or that they can be quickly developed in response to
a male hormone, such as testosterone.
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