Beware Of Males Bearing Gifts
6 February 2013
Details
- Date: Wednesday 6 February
- Time : 6.30pm
- Venue: University of Derby, The Courtroom, Kedleston Road, DE22 1GB
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.
Professor Vahed will also consider whether such 'gifts' provide mutual benefits to the sexes or instead represent a subtle means by which males manipulate the behaviour of their mates.
