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Animal behaviour

Why promiscuity pays

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A study reveals that female promiscuity in a songbird, the dark-eyed junco, is explained by the greater reproductive success of offspring sired by males outside social pairs compared with offspring born within pairs.

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Figure 1: A model of promiscuity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lawrence Bellamy is in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Darwin Building, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.,

    Lawrence Bellamy

  2. Andrew Pomiankowski is in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, and also at the Centre for Mathematics and Physics in the Life Sciences and Experimental Biology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.,

    Andrew Pomiankowski

Authors
  1. Lawrence Bellamy
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  2. Andrew Pomiankowski
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Correspondence to Lawrence Bellamy or Andrew Pomiankowski.

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Bellamy, L., Pomiankowski, A. Why promiscuity pays. Nature 479, 184–185 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/479184a

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