Title
Female-solicited extrapair matings in Humboldt penguins fail to produce extrapair fertilizations
Author(s)
Schwartz M.K., Boness D.J., Schaeff C.M., Majluf P., Perry E.A., Fleischer R.C.
Published
1999
Publisher
Behavioral Ecology
Abstract
The study reported in this paper demonstrated that Humboldt penguins at Punta San Juan, Peru, despite forming pair-bonds, are not strictly monogamous in their mating behavior: 19.2% of the study males and 30.7% of the study females (21 nests) engaged in extrapair copulations. The total number of completed matings observed during the course of this study was 106, of which 17.9% were extrapair copulations. Using DNA fingerprinting we demonstrated that none of these extrapair copulations resulted in extrapair fertilizations; all 49 offspring were attributed to the putative father. Location of copulations suggested that females solicited these extrapair copulations because 89.2% of Humboldt penguin within-pair copulations occurred at the home burrow, yet extrapair copulations took place at a different location based on the sex of the penguin. Extrapair copulations by males occurred at their nest, whereas females conducted 92% of their extrapair copulations away from the nest. These results are most consistent with mate-appraisal and epiphenomenal hypotheses.
Keywords
DNA fingerprinting; fertilization; mating system; copulation; mating behavior; seabird; Spheniscus humboldti

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