Female preference for male dorsal crests in great crested newts (Triturus cristatus)

Abstract

Studies of mate choice in great crested newts have established a difficulty in separating the visual constituent of the male's dorsal crest from its importance to cutaneous respiration and the conveying of pheromones during courtship. We used image manipulation to test if size differences in the dorsal crest alone can be evaluated visually by female newts, controlling for other differences between males. Females responded well to the experimental design and did not remain in front of simulated male ‘models’ independently of differences in dorsal crest height. Instead, they spent more than twice as much time in front of the manipulated high-crested male, than in front of the non-manipulated low-crested male, which was significant also after controlling for zone area. However, the design failed to determine if females remained true to their first choice, probably due to a combination of low sample size and male ‘models’ remaining unnaturally indifferent to female interest.