Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Animal behaviour

Wise fathers

Nature volume 422, pages 669–670 (2003)Cite this article

As Shakespeare put it, “It is a wise father that knows his own child”. Male bluegill sunfish do: they adjust their behaviour towards their young according to how sure they are of being the real father.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: A colony of breeding bluegill sunfish in Lake Opinicon, Ontario, Canada.

MARTIN R. GROSS

References

  1. Daly, M. & Wilson, M. I. Ethol. Sociobiol. 3, 69–78 (1982).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Neff, B. D. Nature 422, 716–719 (2003).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Whittingham, L. A. & Dunn, P. O. Curr. Ornithol. 16, 257–298 (2001).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Sheldon, B. C. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 357, 341–350 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Gross, M. R. & Charnov, E. L. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 77, 6937–6940 (1980).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Fu, P., Neff, B. D. & Gross, M. R. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 268, 1105–1112 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Neff, B. D. & Sherman, P. W. Anim. Cogn. (in the press).

  8. Olsen, K. H., Grahn, M. & Lohm, J. J. Chem. Ecol. 28, 783–795 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Reusch, T. B. H., Haberli, M. A., Aeschlimann, P. B. & Milinski, M. Nature 414, 300–302 (2001).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Davies, N. B. Cuckoos, Cowbirds and Other Cheats (Poyser, London, 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Pagel, M. Anim. Behav. 53, 973–981 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Johnstone, R. A. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 264, 1547–1553 (1997).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    John D. Reynolds & Ben C. Sheldon

Authors
  1. John D. Reynolds
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ben C. Sheldon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ben C. Sheldon.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Reynolds, J., Sheldon, B. Wise fathers. Nature 422, 669–670 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/422669a

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/422669a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing