birding-aus

Partners

To:
Subject: Partners
From: "Robyn Charlton" <>
Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 19:07:00 +1000
How overwhelming all this is........just out of a simple question.....Do
Waterfowls mate for life?  Goodness.

Rob

On Tue, May 20, 2008 at 6:55 PM, <> wrote:

> To be honest, I'm not sure  what terms/language fits the bill for the
> behaviour, and yes "forced copulation" has an odd "ring" to it as well.
> Buggered if I know.
>
> It's just that the term rape involves questions of intent in its
> criminological definition - generally speaking - so I just find it rather
> creepy to be implying that birds are working with intent to "force" and so
> on.
>
> But, hell, if we want it as a term to stick onto avian behaviour, let's
> not stop there. Let's put them on trial! And televise the court cases.
> That will get birding some publicity.
>
>
> cheers
>
> Craig
>
> > Thanks, Paul. And saying that instead of "rape" would avoid the
> > potential problems you describe, Craig?
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Paul McDonald 
> > Sent: Tuesday, 20 May 2008 3:05 PM
> > To: Peter Shute
> > Cc: ; Merrilyn Serong;
> > 
> > Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Partners
> >
> > The correct terminology in ornithological circles is 'forced
> > copulation'.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Paul
> >
> > On 20/05/2008, at 2:58 PM, Peter Shute wrote:
> >
> >> So what word/phrase would you use instead of rape?
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: 
> >>  On Behalf Of
> >> 
> >> Sent: Tuesday, 20 May 2008 2:27 PM
> >> To: Merrilyn Serong
> >> Cc: 
> >> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Partners
> >>
> >> Hi Merrilyn,
> >>
> >> Your contribution to this little discussion tangent is deeply
> >> appreciated.
> >> I was getting ready to throw a rant into action about the total
> >> undesirability of applying human legal concepts and designated crimes
> >> such as rape to birds or other animals.
> >>
> >> Being playful about human/bird connections is one thing, but it's
> >> another entirely when the term "rape" is applied to animal behaviour
> >> and there are a range of very dangerous and dodgy implications that
> >> might stem from such games.
> >>
> >> For instance, what if some human idiot "out there" decides to rid the
> >> world of wren "rapists" based on some half-baked bit of
> >> anthropomorphism.
> >> That's all we need. Let alone some human accused launching a defence
> >> along the lines of "If ducks can't help but do it, I rest my case".
> >>
> >> best wishes
> >>
> >> Craig Williams
> >>
> >>> Hi Belinda and others,
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> It is obvious that if a male bird mates with lots of females, he is
> >>> more likely to produce a greater number of offspring than if he mates
> >
> >>> with only one bird. If his male offspring inherit the behavioural
> >>> propensity to mate with lots of females, then the proportion of
> >>> multiple-mating males in the population will increase, and so it goes
> >
> >>> on. Those that only mate with one female, will be relatively scarce.
> >>>
> >>> If a female bird mates with several males, she will be more likely to
> >
> >>> produce young with a wide variety of characteristics (sperm
> >>> competition aside). Depending on environmental conditions, this may
> >>> increase the number of offspring that survive to sexual maturity. If
> >>> the survivors inherit the propensity to mate with several partners,
> >>> then the chances of their offspring surviving will also increase,
> >>> etc.
> >>>
> >>> On the other hand, if a female mates with only one male, even a
> >>> really
> >>
> >>> good quality one, if environmental conditions change, then the
> >>> offspring might not be well suited to the new conditions and may not
> >>> survive to maturity. However, if environmental conditions are
> >>> unchanging, then mating with the best (fittest for the current
> >>> conditions) available male will produce the greatest number of
> >> surviving offspring.
> >>>
> >>> Similarly, under certain circumstances, young will be more likely to
> >>> survive if they have more than one carer, i.e. both mother and father
> >
> >>> (and sometimes older siblings as well). These survivors will inherit
> >>> the capacity to care for young in a socially stable partnership along
> >
> >>> with whatever mating system was employed by their parents (single or
> >>> multiple partners).
> >>>
> >>> It's all about inheritance and survival.
> >>>
> >>> Cheers,
> >>> Merrilyn
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Belinda Cassidy wrote:
> >>>> Hi Kurtis, John, Rosemary, Storm, and everyone,
> >>>>
> >>>> I must apologise for being so curt. I don't know whats got into me
> >>>> today; anyway I didn't mean to put everyone off side. Its been an
> >>>> emotional week for me and I guess I sprung a leak.
> >>>>
> >>>> I think we all agree that the scientific evidence demonstrates that
> >>>> some birds pair for life, and some do not. I don't even know why
> >>>> this
> >>
> >>>> is being hotly debated, but like I said, I have my suspicions as to
> >>>> the reasons.
> >>>> You're right though Kurtis, suspicions are not the same as
> >>>> scientific
> >>
> >>>> fact.
> >>>>
> >>>> Cheers,
> >>>> Bel
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>> ===============================
> >>> www.birding-aus.org
> >>> birding-aus.blogspot.com
> >>>
> >>> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message:
> >>> unsubscribe
> >>> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> >>> to:  ===============================
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> ===============================
> >> www.birding-aus.org
> >> birding-aus.blogspot.com
> >>
> >> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message:
> >> unsubscribe
> >> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> >> to: 
> >> ===============================
> >>
> >> ==============================www.birding-aus.org
> >> birding-aus.blogspot.com
> >>
> >> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message:
> >> unsubscribe
> >> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> >> to: 
> >> ==============================
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > Dr. Paul G. McDonald
> >
> > Centre for the Integrative Study of Animal Behaviour Macquarie
> > University Sydney, NSW 2109 Australia
> >
> > Ph: +612 9850 9232 Fax: +612 9850 9231
> >
> > 
> > http://galliform.bhs.mq.edu.au/~paul/<http://galliform.bhs.mq.edu.au/%7Epaul/>
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to: 
> ===============================
>
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

To unsubscribe from this mailing list, 
send the message:
unsubscribe 
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 
===============================

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU