The diamond females of the gouldas can choose the sex of the offspring

2009/03/24 Kortabitarte Egiguren, Irati - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Zoologia

The female diamond of the gouldas looks towards the superior males, with option of males of red and black head. According to this choice, the female will also choose the proportion of male and female offspring, according to biologists at Macquarie University in Sydney.

When Gould's red and black head diamonds (Erythrura gouldiae) cross, many children die, especially females. Thus, if the females had the opportunity to somehow control the proportion of offspring and females, by crossing them with males of different colors, they would not lose unnecessary energy creating the female offspring that will die.

To demonstrate this hypothesis, researchers have crossed Gould's diamonds with red and black heads. The proportion of male and female offspring born when crossing the same color is similar. When crossing the colors, 82% of the eggs laid are male.

The most surprising thing is that by painting the head to the males, black in red and vice versa, the results are similar, that is, they have seen that the color seen by the female of diamonds of Gould, even if artificial, conditions the proportion of male and female offspring that are to be born later.

Image: Image: Sarah Pryke