Chapter 6: Sexual Selection
Aggressive Fowl Interaction
C. K. Cornwallis
Unfamiliar male domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) engage in escalated aggressive interactions, sometimes lasting several hours, which result in the establishment of a relatively stable dominance hierarchy among males. Dominant males enjoy enhanced access to females, and adopt a status-specific strategy of selective allocation of sperm to higher quality females when multiple females are available. Subordinate males allocate high numbers of sperm to initial copulations, regardless of female availability or quality. Where social status changes within a breeding season, males adjust their reproductive strategy accordingly.
See Chapter 6 – Sexual Selection, Chapter 7 – Mating Systems, Chapter 14 -- Aggression.
Further reading – Cornwallis, C.K. & Birkhead, T.R. (2006). Social status and availability of females determine patterns of sperm allocation in the fowl. Evolution 60: 1486-1493.)