{"id":20865,"date":"2022-09-26T15:27:25","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T13:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=67222"},"modified":"2022-09-26T15:47:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T13:47:17","slug":"why-promiscuity-pays-off-for-female-dunnocks","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/why-promiscuity-pays-off-for-female-dunnocks\/","title":{"rendered":"Why promiscuity pays off for female dunnocks"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Lucy Cooke\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 26 September 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

\u201cBe thou like the dunnock<\/a> \u2013 the male and female are impeccably faithful to each other\u201d, the keen Victorian ornithologist and author Reverend Frederick Morris\u00a0proclaimed in his popular bird book.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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. <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>

M\u00e9nage \u00e0 trois<\/i><\/span><\/b><\/h2>\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

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

Discover more about birds<\/h4>\n