Lek (biology)
In biology, a lek is a courtship area where several males court a female together. The term is mainly used in ornithology , since this form of courtship occurs in an arena for a number of species of different bird families.
The courtship in the lek for several grouse is typical . The black grouse , the prairie grouse and the mugwort belong to the polygynous species in which several males gather in an arena (lek) and present themselves to the females. The black grouse usually collects six to twelve males in one lek, the prairie chicken eight to nine, and the mugwort grouse even up to 400 individuals. Within such an arena, each male defends his own territory. For the mugwort, this is no larger than 1 m². The most desirable places are in the center, where the territories are the smallest. The courtship comprises a large number of ritualized gestures such as nodding the head, spreading wings, raising and shaking the tail, stamping with the feet and jumping into the air. In the mugwort, this is accompanied by sounds that are made when the air sacs are suddenly emptied. The females then make a decision and mate with a specific male. In the prairie chicken, a single male performs 71 to 89% of all copulations. There is just such an imbalance in the leks of mugwort, where 90% of copulations are carried out by only 10% of the males.
The kakapo , an endangered New Zealand parrot species, also mates in the lek and competes with several males for the female's favor . The females who appear at the courtship arena observe the males' courtship and choose the male with whom they mate from the courtiers. The courtship arenas of the Kakapo are usually on hills; During the mating season, the males leave their traditional territories and move to these mating arenas, where each male creates his own mating area. Courtship arenas can be up to seven kilometers from a male's ancestral territory. When the males arrive at the courtship arena, the males fight for the best courtship places within this courtship arena with bristling feathers, wings spread apart, beaks open, claws raised, and loud croaking and humming. Occasionally, birds are injured in these fights. The individual courtship areas are on average about 50 meters apart within this arena. The males dig a bowl-shaped depression about ten centimeters deep and about half a meter in diameter for their courtship grounds, so that the birds can fit into this depression. The courtship areas are often laid out in front of rocks, earthen slopes or tree trunks, which reflect the sound of calls. The individual courtship area includes a network of paths that either stretch around 50 meters on a hill or as a circular path with a diameter of around 20 meters around a hill.
literature
- Don V. Merton, Rodney B. Morris, Ian AE Atkinson: Lek behavior in a parrot: the Kakapo Strigops habroptilus of New Zealand. in: The Ibis. Oxford 126.1984. ISSN 0019-1019
- Steve Madge , Phil McGowan, and Guy M. Kirwan : Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse. A Guide to the Pheasants, Partridges, Quails, Grouse, Guineafowl, Buttonquails and Sandgrouse of the world. Christopher Helm, London 2002, ISBN 0-7136-3966-0 .