Affiliative preferences are stable and predict mate choices in both sexes of Japanese quail, Coturnix japonica

Most laboratory studies of mate choice use affiliation as a surrogate measure for actual choice of a partner for copulation. In a series of recent studies using affiliation as a dependent variable, we showed that the tendency of both male and female Japanese quail to affiliate with members of the opposite sex is profoundly affected by seeing them mate with others: female quails show an increased tendency to affiliate with males that they have …