BEING a big, macho male doesn’t always impress the fairer sex. Contrary to commonly accepted theory, the females of some species are partial to weedier partners.
Animal behaviourists usually expect males to compete with each other for mates, with females preferring the larger, more aggressive or better-endowed winners. But this is not so for certain salmon and quail.
Some male coho salmon, known as jacks, stop growing earlier in their lives and remain smaller than their larger cousins, known as hooknoses, says behavioural ecologist Jason Watters of the University of California, Davis. When the salmon migrate from the Pacific Ocean…
