Female preferences for unfamiliar males: the consequences of previous pairing with either high or low aggressive males

ORSO, G.A.; PELLEGRINI S.; MARIN R. H.; GUZMAN D. A.

Foz do Iguazú

Congreso; Poultry Science Association, 3rd Latin American Scientific Conference; 2022

Aggressive behaviors and their potential consequences onsocial interactions have strong economic and welfare relevance. Here weaddress whether pairing a female with either a high or low aggressive malehas consequences on their subsequent interactions with unknown males. Atage 4 wk, birds were housed in male-female pairs. Aggressive behaviorswere registered when birds were 11-12 wk old. Females were classified aseither frequently (FP) or unfrequently (UFP) pecked according to their rankposition based on the number of pecks received from their male partners. Atage 16 wk, 12 interactions between two males were evaluated in a novelenvironment in the presence of either a FP or a UFP unknown femaleaudience (behind a wire mesh partition). Males either actively attacked oravoided attacks (high vs. low aggressive performance). Immediately after,female preferences for either male and sex-related interactions wereassessed in a novel environment. Testing boxes were divided into two lateraland a central compartment; each male was restricted to a lateralcompartment by a physical barrier device, while the female was able to freelyambulate between compartments. Data were analyzed using GeneralizedLinear Mixed Models. During the first 10 min of trial, FP females spent moretime in proximity to the less aggressive male while UFP females showed theopposite behavior (P=0.047). FP females also continued spending more timein proximity to the less aggressive male during the 8 h test, while UFPfemales spent a similar time near either male (P=0.004 and 0.1,respectively). FP females received more grabs and mounts from the highaggressive males than their UFP counterparts (P<0.03). The experiment wasrepeated but with birds that were isolated for 2 wk after cohabitation. Femalepreferences and their sex-related interactions were then recorded during 6 has described above. Initially, both FP and UFP females visited more often themales that previously showed a low aggressive performance (P=0.01).However, they spent similar time near either male along the whole trial(P>0.1). Interestingly, FP females continued receiving more mounts than theirUFP counterparts (P=0.02). Results suggest that in a short-term, female preference for a more or a less aggressive male is highly influenced by their social experience with former male partners (i.e., aggressions received). In the middle term, after isolation, prior aggressive related influences on female preferences seem to be diluted or at least masked by other motivational factors (i.e., social reinstatement needs or increased sexual arousal). Nevertheless, consequences during the sexual interactions are still evident.