Endocrine and behavioral changes in male African elephants: Linking hormone changes to sexual state and reproductive tactics
Hormones play a crucial role in mediating genetic and environmental effects into morphological and behavioral phenotypes. In systems with alternative reproductive tactics (ART) shifts between tactics are hypothesized to be under proximate hormonal control. Most studies of the underlying endocrine changes behind ART have focused on fish and amphibians rather than mammals and few have […]
Facultative Pheromonal Mimicry in Snakes: “She-Males” Attract Courtship Only When it is Useful
Males of many animal species mimic females, and thereby deceive rival males. Facultative shifts in posture, color, or movement allow a male using visually-based mimicry to adopt and terminate mimicry rapidly. Pheromonal mimicry is rare in vertebrates perhaps because it is difficult to redeploy pheromones rapidly enough to adjust male tactics to local conditions. In […]