Cryptic preference for MHC-dissimilar females in male red junglefowl, Gallus gallus.

Cryptic female choice favours sperm from major histocompatibility complex-dissimilar males

Cryptic female choice may enable polyandrous females to avoid inbreeding or bias offspring variability at key loci after mating. However, the role of these genetic benefits in cryptic female choice remains poorly understood. Female red junglefowl, Gallus gallus, bias sperm use in favour of unrelated males. Here, we experimentally investigate whether this bias is driven by relatedness per se, or...

The effects of age and previous experience on social rank in female red junglefowl, Gallus gallus spadiceus.

Social rank can influence lifetime reproductive success and therefore fitness. We examined the effects of morphology, age, previous social experience and aggressiveness on social rank in all-female flocks of red junglefowl. None of the morphological characters measured (mass, tarsus length, comb height or comb length) appeared to play a role in determining rank. Older females were not more like...

Social behaviour responses in red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) selected for tameness

The measure and significance of Bateman's principles

Bateman's principles explain sex roles and sexual dimorphism through sex-specific variance in mating success, reproductive success and their relationships within sexes (Bateman gradients). Empirical tests of these principles, however, have come under intense scrutiny. Here, we experimentally show that in replicate groups of red junglefowl, Gallus gallus, mating and reproductive successes were m...

The Origin and Genetic Variation of Domestic Chickens with Special Reference to Junglefowls Gallus g. gallus and G. varius

It is postulated that chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) became domesticated from wild junglefowls in Southeast Asia nearly 10,000 years ago. Based on 19 individual samples covering various chicken breeds, red junglefowl (G. g. gallus), and green junglefowl (G. varius), we address the origin of domestic chickens, the relative roles of ancestral polymorphisms and introgression, and the effects ...