A study of shorebirds has helped shed light on why some
species reverse the roles of the sexes, with males carrying out the parental
duties.
A team of European researchers found that an imbalance
between the number of males and females triggered the change.
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| greater painted snipe |
They reported the switch occurred when there was a higher
ration of males to females, making it beneficial for males to stay with their
mate.
The findings have been published in the journal Nature
Communications.
Adult sex ratio
It had been argued that the conventional sex roles were
widespread because females invested considerable energy in producing eggs so
the survival of the offspring was a priority, therefore it made sense for the
female to oversee the care of the young.
"Although a lot of research has investigated the
reasons for why animals have many contrasting types of breeding behaviour, we
are still far from the full understanding of this question," explained
co-author Andras Liker from the University
of Sheffield
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