In the mating game, male wild turkeys benefit even when they don't ge...( these situations held in the Californi...)

"In this population of wild turkeys, cooperating males don't seem to be sneaking copulations," Krakauer said. "Also, these turkeys aren't territorial, so there is no territory to inherit."

Integrative biology professor Walter Koenig, another of Krakauer's advisors and an expert on mating systems, social behavior and reproductive strategies of birds, was impressed by Krakauer's tenacity in pursuing the turkeys to answer a very fundamental question of evolution.

"Frankly, it surprised the heck out of me that it actually worked. I always expected this textbook example of kin selection not to be true," Koenig said. "Alan's real lasting contribution is that he has actually done the test, demonstrating that it pretty much works out the way those guys envisioned it over 30 years ago."

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Contact: Robert Sanders
rsanders@berkeley.edu
510-643-6998
University of California - Berkeley
2-Mar-2005