DOES BEAK COLOR AFFECT FEMALE PREFERENCE IN ZEBRA FINCHES

Mate choice in the zebra finch, Taenopygia guttata, has been extensive ly studied and the results have been thought to provide support for th e hypothesis that females prefer brightly coloured males even in a mon ogamous species. A bright, red beak colour was seen as the important f eature upon which females based their preference. However, many recent studies have failed to find any effect of beak colour on female prefe rence, and some suggest that females use display rate to choose a mate . The evidence provided by various zebra finch studies is critically e xamined and two possible explanations for why the results differ are s uggested. First, there may be a hierarchy of choice criteria with disp lay rate being more important than beak colour. Second, it is possible that female preference for male beak colour depends on female experie nce of males during maturation. Finally studies on the role of beak co lour in zebra finches should consider the possibility that it is males rather than females who are responding strongly to beak colour differ ences between the sexes. (C) 1996 The Association for the Study of Ani mal Behaviour.