Mate choice on fallow deer leks

Abstract

LEKS, on which males defend small clustered mating territories, may have evolved because of the unusual opportunities they provide for female choice of mating partners^1-4, and several studies of lek-breeding animals have demonstrated correlations between the mating success of males and their phenotype or behaviour^5-7. However, these could arise because (1) females select mates on the basis of male phenotypic traits^1-4; (2) males interfere with each other's mating attempts^4,8,9; or (3) females show preferences for particular mating territories, and larger or stronger males are more likely to win access to these territories^4,10-12. Here we report that when fallow bucks on a traditional lek were experimentally induced to change their territories, differences in the mating success of bucks persisted, whereas differences in the position of their territories relative to the centre of the lek did not. The observation that bucks rarely interfered with their neighbours harems and females moved freely between bucks suggests that females choose their mates on the basis of male phenotype rather than territory type or location. In this population, the immediate factor affecting the movements of females between males was the size of a buck's harem.