Karim Vahed Inaugural Lecture: Beware Of Males Bearing Gifts
6 February 2013
Podcast and slides
Inter Sexual Conflict and Courtship Feeding Behaviour in Animals
Courtship gifts, in the form of a food item transferred from the male to the female during mating, occur in numerous animals. In this lecture, the range of different courtship gifts in the animal kingdom will be examined. These include: food collected by the male in certain birds and spiders; substances transferred in the seminal fluid; glandular secretions in bushcrickets and even the male's body in black widow spiders. Professor Karim Vahed will look at the reasons why males provide courtship gifts focussing on his research on bushcrickets
