Female Mating Strategies in Situations of Sexual Coercion

A couple of weeks ago I gave a talk at a virtual conference. The talk was on a mathematical model I’ve developed to predict what how females ought to optimally respond to sexual coercion, which is extremely common in the animal kingdom.

Notes from the henhouse: mansplaining chickens?

For my PhD, started earlier this year, I am studying the behaviour of chickens. Chickens are easily the most populous bird on the planet, as about 50 billion of them live on farms worldwide: an ideal study population, with lots of data easily accessible. What’s more, because chicken eggs and meat form part of the diet of so many people, and because they’re much cheaper and more environmentally friendly to raise than many other animals, a detailed understanding of chicken behaviour can only be a good thing from a food security point of view, perhaps giving insights to keep them healthier and happier. Our species has such a significant relationship with these birds; shouldn’t we get to know them?

Much like the relationship between dogs and wolves, the chickens we are familiar with were domesticated thousands of years ago from a species called red junglefowl, which lives in the forests of Southeast Asia. Significantly smaller, more agile and active than their farmyard cousins, their behaviour is thought to be more ‘natural’ since they haven’t been extensively bred by humans.