Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Aggression among female lapwings, Vanellus vanellus

Liker1, Székely

  • 1Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, Kossuth University, Debrecen, Hungary

Animal Behaviour
|October 1, 1997
PubMed
Summary

Female lapwings exhibit aggressive behavior to prevent other females from mating with their partners. This territorial defense helps monopolize male parental care, supporting the competition for male parental care hypothesis in social monogamy.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same journal

Age, pair tenure and parenting, but not face identity, predict looking behaviour in a pair-bonded South American primate.

Animal behaviour·2026
Same journal

Hard to handle: infected house finches do not prefer easier-to-consume food.

Animal behaviour·2026
Same journal

The resident effect dominates over previous winner/loser experience in surface fish of the Mexican tetra.

Animal behaviour·2026
Same journal

Weakly electric fish use self-generated motion to discriminate object shape.

Animal behaviour·2026
Same journal

Galápagos yellow warblers differ in behavioural plasticity in response to traffic noise depending on proximity to road.

Animal behaviour·2026
Same journal

Solo songs, duets and territory defence across seasons in female Galápagos yellow warblers, <i>Setophaga petechia aureola</i>.

Animal behaviour·2026

Area of Science:

  • Ethology
  • Behavioral Ecology
  • Ornithology

Background:

  • Social monogamy is prevalent in birds, with one hypothesis suggesting mated females prevent rivals from forming pair bonds.
  • This 'competition for male parental care' hypothesis posits resident females actively defend their mates.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To experimentally investigate the 'competition for male parental care' hypothesis in lapwings.
  • To determine if resident female lapwings display aggression to deter potential rivals.

Main Methods:

  • Resident female lapwings were presented with either a female or male conspecific dummy near their nests.
  • Aggressive behaviors towards the dummies were recorded and analyzed during 5-minute trials.
  • Attack types (aerial vs. ground) and frequency over the incubation period were documented.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Female lapwings attacked both dummies, but more frequently attacked the female dummy.
  • Attacks on the female dummy were primarily ground-based, while attacks on the male dummy included aerial dives.
  • Attack frequency on the female dummy decreased over the incubation period.

Conclusions:

  • Results support the hypothesis that female lapwings actively prevent their mates from attracting new partners.
  • This behavior suggests a strategy to monopolize male parental care, reinforcing social monogamy.
  • Alternative hypotheses for female aggression were not supported by the experimental data.