Male guppy fish increase their reproductive success by mating with unfamiliar females.
Abstract
When President Coolidge famously attributed the sexual ardour of roosters on a government farm to a steady stream of new hens1, he identified a strategy whereby males increase their reproductive success. By preferentially copulating with different females, a polygamous male will facilitate the spread of his genes and sire more offspring2. But in order to benefit, a male must either have the cognitive skills to recognize familiar females, or behaviour patterns that increase his likelihood of encountering new ones. We show here that wild guppies, Poecilia reticulata, do both.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Wilson, J. R., Kuehn, R. E. & Beach, F. A. J. Comp. Physiol. Psychol. 56, 636–644 (1963).
Adler, N. T. in Biological Determinants of Sexual Behaviour (ed. Hutchison, J. B.) 656–695 (Wiley, New York, 1978).
Magurran, A. E. & Seghers, B. H. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 258, 89–92 (1994).
Houde, A. E. Sex, Color, and Mate Choice in Guppies (Princeton Univ. Press, New Jersey, 1997).
Liley, N. R. Behaviour 13 (suppl.), 1–197 (1966).
Milinski, M., Külling, D. & Kettler, R. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 27, 17–21 (1990).
Dugatkin, L. A. & Wilson, D. S. Rev. Fish Biol. Fish. 3, 368–372 (1993).
Griffiths, S. W. & Magurran, A. E. Anim. Behav. 56, 689–693 (1998).
Griffiths, S. W. & Magurran, A. E. Anim. Behav. 53, 945–949 (1997).
Griffiths, S. W. & Magurran, A. E. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 264, 547–551 (1997).
Heinrich, W. & Schröder, J. H. Biol. Zbl. 105, 491–502 (1986).
Farr, J. A. Evolution 31, 162–168 (1977).
Hughes. K. A. et al. Anim. Behav. 58, 907–916 (1999).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kelley, J., Graves, J. & Magurran, A. Familiarity breeds contempt in guppies. Nature 401, 661–662 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/44314
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/44314
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
