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1 June 2011 Testosterone and Breeding Behavior in Male Black-Tailed Gulls: An Implant Experiment
Kentaro Kazama, Kentaro Q. Sakamoto, Yasuaki Niizuma, Yutaka Watanuki
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Abstract

Testosterone affects male sexual-, aggressive-, and parental-behaviors in bird species. To understand the breadth of the proximate contribution of testosterone to breeding behaviors in male Black-tailed Gulls Larus crassirostris, sexual behaviors, aggressive behaviors against egg-predators and conspecifics, and chick-provisioning behavior of five testosterone-implanted males (T-males) were observed and compared with those of three control males (placebo-implanted; C-males). T-males showed significantly higher levels of courtship and copulation behaviors than C-males. The levels of aggressiveness against egg-predators and against conspecifics, and the rate of feeding of chicks did not differ between T- and C-males. These results suggest that sexual and mating behaviors in male Black-tailed Gulls may be affected by testosterone, while aggressive- and feeding-behaviors are affected by certain ecological factors, such as individual age, or a necessity for high levels of feeding by males, rather than by testosterone.

© The Ornithological Society of Japan 2011
Kentaro Kazama, Kentaro Q. Sakamoto, Yasuaki Niizuma, and Yutaka Watanuki "Testosterone and Breeding Behavior in Male Black-Tailed Gulls: An Implant Experiment," Ornithological Science 10(1), 13-19, (1 June 2011). https://doi.org/10.2326/osj.10.13
Received: 17 February 2011; Accepted: 1 March 2011; Published: 1 June 2011
KEYWORDS
Aggressiveness
behavioral endocrinology
implant
sexual behavior
testosterone
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