It is also possible that more than one female and/or multiple species of
females might use a single nestbox; mergansers and Wood Ducks, for example.



Kristin Stewart

Olympia



_____

From: tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Jeff Kozma
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 9:00 PM
To: Megan Lyden; tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] duck question



Yes, it is possible to have multiple fathers fertilize a clutch of eggs.
Genetic analysis is becoming more common today with many studies
investigating this and finding that many females, although appearing to be
devotedly mated to a male, seek other males for extra-pair copulations.
This results in one or more males fathering some of the offspring. Many
articles have been published recently in journals (last 10- years or so)
describing this.



Jeff Kozma



Yakima



j c r underscore 5105 at charter dot net





----- Original Message -----

From: Megan Lyden <mailto:meganlyden at msn.com>

To: tweeters at u.washington.edu

Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 1:18 PM

Subject: [Tweeters] duck question





Hi Tweets,



Are some of the eggs in a duck's clutch fertilized by one male, and some by
another? Could a clutch of eggs have been fertilized by many fathers?



Megan L

Bellevue WA



Probably a dumb question, but I don't have a biology background.


_____


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