You are studying a group of mammals in which females have greyish-brown fur but

Question

You are studying a group of mammals in which females have greyish-brown fur but males’ fur ranges from dull yellow to a bright lemon-yellow colour. Females mate, eat, and rear their young on a territory defended by a male. Prior to pairing, females travel among male territories, where they observe the courtship displays of several males. Females are choosy—they will pair with only one of the males they observe.

Based on these data and the description above, which of the general hypotheses for female choice are most strongly supported in this system? Explain & explicitly refer to the graphs in your explanation.

You collect the data in figures 1 and 2 below for the system described.

Explanation / Answer

The first figure shows time required to attract a female on y axis which depends upon the fur colour of males shown on axis

We see a its a straight line graph which indicates direct proportionality between the time and dullness of the fur colour.

So less dull and more bright yellow fur colour males require less time to attract a female. This shows the fondness of female towards the bright yellow coloured males.

The graph in figure 2 shows the food availability in the territories of males. Dull yellow coloured males have low food availability whereas the bright coloured ones have high abundance. So ofcourse the female will choose the male with bright yellow furs as it has high food availability on its territory.

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