Ethos (Ethologie animale et humaine), Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, Rennes, France.
Dev Psychobiol. 2019 Sep;61(6):832-842. doi: 10.1002/dev.21848. Epub 2019 Mar 20.
Sex is a trait which leads mothers to invest asymmetrically in their young, especially in species with a strong dimorphism. Authors usually consider that members of the largest sex require the most investment by mothers. In other cases, mothers care preferentially for members of the sex that increase their fitness, e.g. males, in numerous species. In quail, a precocial bird, mother seems to take more care of their males which are more sensitive to their separation. This study investigates the influence of chicks' sex and brood's sexual composition on the maternal behavior of quail. We evaluated three batches of mothers, composed of (a) unisex broods of males (MM), (b) unisex broods of females (FF), and (c) mixed sex broods (Mx). We recorded mother-chick interactions during 11 days of mothering. We found that MM mothers spent more time warming their chicks and FF mothers were more active. Moreover, females rejected more aggressively and earlier their female chicks than their male chicks. Finally, Mx chicks, whatever their sex, interacted more with their mothers. Our results highlight a greater quantity and quality of maternal care towards male. Mothers invest more in male chicks. We discussed results in terms of each sex's needs.
性别是导致母亲对其幼崽进行不对称投资的特征，尤其是在具有强烈二态性的物种中。作者通常认为，最大性别的成员需要母亲最多的投资。在其他情况下，母亲会优先照顾那些能提高其适应性的性别的幼崽，例如在许多物种中，雄性。在鹌鹑这种早成性鸟类中，母亲似乎更关心雄性幼崽，因为雄性幼崽对与母亲分离更为敏感。本研究调查了雏鸡的性别和巢的性别组成对鹌鹑母亲行为的影响。我们评估了三批母亲，包括(a) 雄性（MM）同性雏鸡巢，(b) 雌性（FF）同性雏鸡巢，和(c) 混合性别雏鸡巢（Mx）。我们在 11 天的育雏期间记录了母-雏互动。我们发现，MM 母亲花更多的时间给雏鸡保暖，而 FF 母亲则更活跃。此外，雌性比雄性更早、更积极地拒绝其雌性雏鸡。最后，无论性别如何，Mx 雏鸡与母亲的互动更多。我们的结果强调了母亲对雄性给予更多的数量和质量的照顾。母亲会更多地投资于雄性雏鸡。我们根据每个性别的需求讨论了结果。
