Why is the Male Wood Duck Strikingly Colorful?
- 1 November 1959
- journal article
- letter
- Published by University of Chicago Press in The American Naturalist
- Vol. 93 (873) , 383-384
- https://doi.org/10.1086/282099
Abstract
Display plumage of Aix sponsa seems more complex than would be needed to make the male distinctly different from other species. Because of hole-nesting habits, young Wood Ducks are not imprinted with the visual species characteristics, as are young of surface-nesting ducks. It is suggested that a selective process occurred through which the male plumage promotes better learning by the female as a partial compensation for the lack of imprinting.This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- An Analysis of Learning in Young AnatidaeEcology, 1959