Mobile phones as lekking devices among human males

This study investigated the use of mobile telephones by males and females i n a public bar frequented by professional people. We found that, unlike wom en, men who possess mobile telephones more often publicly display them, and that these displays were related to the number of men in a social group, b ut not the number of women. This result was not due simply to a greater num ber of males who have telephones: we found an increase with male social gro up size in the proportion of available telephones that were on display. Sim ilarly, there was a positive relationship between the number of visible tel ephones and the ratio of males to females. Our results further show that th e increased display of telephones in groups with more males is not due to t he ostensive function of these devices (i.e., the making and receiving of c alls), although single males tended to use their phones more. We interpret these results within the framework of male-male competition, with males in larger group sizes functioning in an increasingly competitive environment. This competitive environment is suggested to be akin to a lek mating system in which males aggregate and actively display their qualities to females w ho assess males on a number of dimensions, We suggest that mobile telephone s might be used by males as an indicator of their status and wealth (sensu "cultural ornaments").