WELLINGTON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Wild male birds know that the way to their partner's heart is through their stomach, and they can find just the food their partner fancies, according to New Zealand research results released on Wednesday.
A study by Victoria University investigated whether male indigenous North Island robins could give their mate the type of food that she was most likely to want during reproduction.
"Robins are a monogamous, food-sharing species, so were ideal for this experiment," said Dr. Rachael Shaw, a researcher at the School of Biological Sciences.
"We found male robins appropriately catered to their mates' desire, even when the female's behavior was the only cue available to guide their choices," Shaw said in a statement.
"This suggests that females can signal their current desires to their mates, enabling males to respond to that."
The finding raised the possibility that other species might be capable of doing the same.
"In many species food sharing by the male is vital to help the female offset the energetic costs of reproduction, such as egg laying and incubation. The male's ability to give his mate what she wants could in fact be an important factor in determining the success of a pair, as well as influencing whether they stay together," said Shaw.
The experiment first involved establishing female robins' eating habits, giving the females a choice between meal worm or wax worm insect larvae.
"I found that after the females had eaten one type of insect, they would prefer to eat the other type when given the choice. This means that the female's desire for a particular food is affected by what she has previously eaten," said Shaw.
"Regardless of whether or not he had seen what his mate ate first, the male still made the appropriate choices. This suggests that the female is likely to be displaying her current desire in her behavior, and that the male is using these cues to identify the food that she wants."
