Reproduction by Captive Unplumed Male Lesser Bird of ParadiseParadisaea minor: Evidence for an Alternative Mating Strategy?

Absence of male reproductive skew, along with high frequency of polyandry and conspecific brood parasitism in the lekking Houbara bustard Chlamydotis undulata undulata

“…In Houbara bustards, the low male reproductive variance was associated with a successful off‐lek male mating strategy and no apparent reproductive benefit of lekking. Such strategy has been previously suggested in some lekking species like the Pacific harbour seal Phoca vitulina richardii (Hayes et al 2004), the fallow deer Dama dama (Apollonio et al 1992) and several avian species: the buff‐breasted sandpiper (Lanctot et al 1997), the lesser bird of paradise Paradisaea minor (Laska et al 1992), the ruff (Lank and Smith 1987), and the sage grouse Centrocercus urophasianus (Semple et al 2001). The benefit of such a strategy is to allow more males (young or low ranking males) access to reproduction by reducing inter‐male sexual competition.…”

“…A settlement strategy leading males to establish at the lek's periphery might then be successful, especially for males aiming at fathering replacement clutches. Moreover, a large number (close to 30 %) of displaying males are not located within leks (Hingrat et al 2008), and this might be the consequence of an off‐lek mating strategy (Oring 1982, Rubenstein 1982, Lank and Smith 1987, Laska et al 1992, Lanctot et al 1997, Semple et al 2001). We therefore tested whether or not there were alternative strategies in the Houbara bustard mating system.…”

A Note on Status and Breeding Biology of Birds-of-Paradise (Aves: Paradisaeidae)

“…Birds of paradise have become an important focus for testing current theories regarding sexual selection [3]. There are four theories for the breeding of this bird-dominant male, metabolic cost, intrasexual competition, cryptic colouration [4]. Some males may take up to seven years to obtain full adult plumage [5].…”

Video evidence of mountings by female‐plumaged birds of paradise (Aves: Paradisaeidae) in the wild: Is there evidence of alternative mating tactics?

“…The only other evidence of alternative mating tactics in this group comes from studies of captive lesser (P. minor [Laska et al, 1992]) and Raggiana's bird of paradise (P. raggiana [Delacour & Mayer cited in Gilliard, 1969]), where females produced fertilized clutches when housed with immature males, though the conclusions derived from these captive studies have a limited applicability to wild systems. This suggests that immature males produce viable sperm before moulting into their definitive plumage-a phenomenon also previously documented in manakins (Foster, 1987).…”