Female Japanese quail that ‘eavesdrop’ on fighting males prefer losers to winners

In a series of four experiments, we examined the relationship between male dominance and female preference in Japanese quail, Coturnix japonica. Female quail that had watched an aggressive interaction between a pair of males preferred the loser of an encounter to its winner. This superficially perverse female preference for losers may be explained by the strong correlation between the success of a male in aggressive interactions with other males and the frequency with which he engages in courtship behaviours that appear potentially injurious to females. By choosing to affiliate with less dominant male quail, female quail may lose direct and indirect benefits that would accrue from pairing with dominant males. However, they also avoid the cost of interacting with potentially harmful, more aggressive males.