{"id":20068,"date":"2022-09-21T13:40:51","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T11:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=20068"},"modified":"2022-11-07T15:50:55","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T14:50:55","slug":"female-of-the-species-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/2022\/09\/21\/female-of-the-species-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Female of the species"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
DUNNOCK<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Lucy Cooke on the creative conjugal affairs of a hedgerow songbird<\/p>\n\n

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A female dunnock chooses a nesting territory in dense vegetation and sings to defend it <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

T<\/span><\/strong>HE REVEREND FREDERICK MORRIS, a keen Victorian ornithologist and author proclaimed, in his popular bird book, \u201cBe thou like the dunnock \u2013 the male and female are impeccably faithful to each other\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

The dedicated nesting behaviour of the \u201chumble and homely\u201d hedge sparrow (Prunella modularis) <\/em>may appear to be the very picture of monogamy. But looks can be deceiving. Nick Davies, a Cambridge ecologist who\u2019s studied these modest birds for many years, claims their conjugal set up would, if emulated, cause \u201cchaos in the parish\u201d. <\/p>\n\n

Female dunnocks frequently take not one, but two \u2018husbands\u2019 and have been documented copulating over 250 times with both in order to start a family. Such profligacy, though rare among birds, is all in the name of good motherhood: it is the female dunnock\u2019s way of securing the best genes and resources for her offspring. <\/p>\n\n

In early spring the female chooses a nesting territory that\u2019s low down in the dense vegetation. She defends against other females the same way a male would, by singing. This might also seem somewhat irregular, but we now understand that 71 per cent of female songbirds sing. It is especially common in species that have year-round territories to protect, like those in the tropics. Singing is likely the ancestral trait of all female songbirds \u2013 it\u2019s just that many British species have lost the need. <\/p>\n\n

The female dunnock also sings to attract males, which will go on to guard her territory with her. She uses a different song to do this and doesn\u2019t always stop at one male. If her territory is big then she may choose two male guards. These will squabble amongst each other to establish a pecking order. The alpha male tries to monopolise the female\u2019s company and keep her as his exclusive sexual partner. But the female has other ideas and will solicit copulations with the beta male also.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

By mating with multiple males she confuses paternity. So both males wind up diligently feeding chicks that may, or may not, be theirs. Research has shown that the males actually calibrate the number of mouthfuls of food they bring in accordance with how often they managed to copulate during the female\u2019s fertile period. DNA fingerprinting has revealed that dunnock females were often, but not always, accurate in their paternity \u2018assessments\u2019. <\/p>\n\n

She also increases the genetic diversity of her offspring \u2013 why put all your eggs in one basket when you can have two, or more for that matter? Davies has found that some females take on three males, whereas some settle for just one. In some cases males may guard and mate several females, whom they may also share with multiple males. Dunnock sexual behaviour is a flexible affair that\u2019s driven by the environment, as opposed to the vain dreams of religious ornithologists. <\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Catch up with Lucy\u2019s BBC Radio Four three-part series Political Animals <\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n

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Lucy is a broadcaster, zoologist and author of Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal.<\/p>\n\n

Photos: ILLUSTRATION BY HOLLY EXLEY <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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