Studies on Sexual Selection in Mice. I. Reproductive Competition between Albino and Black-Agouti Males

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Abstract
Ten male mice of the albino strain, ST/JAX, were randomly paired with 10 male mice of the black-agouti strain, CBA/JAX. Each pair was then placed in a cage with an albino female. Ten litters were obtained from each pen giving a total of 100 litters. All males were proven fertile both at the beginning and at the end of the experiment. Three types of litters were produced: those containing only albino offspring - r only black-agouti offspring, or mixed (some offspring albino and i me black-agouti). This last type of litter was the result of double misemulations. There was no statistical difference in litter size, among the 3 types of litter. It was found that 76% of the litters were fathered solely by the albino males, 12% of the litters were gathered solely by the black-agouti males, while 12% of the litters were the result of double inseminations. Within the mixed litters, albino offspring were more than twice as frequent as black-agouti offspring. Of a total of 552 mice born in the 10 cages, 458 were fathered by the albino males while only 94 were fathered by the black-agouti males. The evolutionary implications of sexual selection for mouse populations are discussed.

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