The longer the better: evidence that narwhal tusks are sexually selected
Once thought to be the magical horn of a unicorn, narwhal tusks are one of the most charismatic structures in biology. However, narwhals spend most of their lives hidden underneath the Arctic ice, which makes testing the function of the tusks nearly impossible. Over the course of 35 years, we collec...
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ftzenodo:oai:zenodo.org:4937417 2024-09-15T18:19:04+00:00 The longer the better: evidence that narwhal tusks are sexually selected Graham, Zackary Garde, Eva Heide-Joergensen, Mads Peter Palaoro, Alexandre 2020-03-04 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.s1rn8pk43 unknown Zenodo https://zenodo.org/communities/dryad https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.s1rn8pk43 oai:zenodo.org:4937417 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode animal weapons animal signals exxagerated trait info:eu-repo/semantics/other 2020 ftzenodo https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.s1rn8pk43 2024-07-25T11:42:30Z Once thought to be the magical horn of a unicorn, narwhal tusks are one of the most charismatic structures in biology. However, narwhals spend most of their lives hidden underneath the Arctic ice, which makes testing the function of the tusks nearly impossible. Over the course of 35 years, we collected morphology data on 245 adult male narwhals to shed light on the function and selection pressures that have acted on this exaggerated trait. Based on the disproportional growth and immense variation in tusk length that we found, we demonstrate that narwhal tusks are indeed sexually selected, and believe that they likely function as signals during male-male aggression or mate choice. Other/Unknown Material narwhal* Zenodo |
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animal weapons animal signals exxagerated trait |
spellingShingle |
animal weapons animal signals exxagerated trait Graham, Zackary Garde, Eva Heide-Joergensen, Mads Peter Palaoro, Alexandre The longer the better: evidence that narwhal tusks are sexually selected |
topic_facet |
animal weapons animal signals exxagerated trait |
description |
Once thought to be the magical horn of a unicorn, narwhal tusks are one of the most charismatic structures in biology. However, narwhals spend most of their lives hidden underneath the Arctic ice, which makes testing the function of the tusks nearly impossible. Over the course of 35 years, we collected morphology data on 245 adult male narwhals to shed light on the function and selection pressures that have acted on this exaggerated trait. Based on the disproportional growth and immense variation in tusk length that we found, we demonstrate that narwhal tusks are indeed sexually selected, and believe that they likely function as signals during male-male aggression or mate choice. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Graham, Zackary Garde, Eva Heide-Joergensen, Mads Peter Palaoro, Alexandre |
author_facet |
Graham, Zackary Garde, Eva Heide-Joergensen, Mads Peter Palaoro, Alexandre |
author_sort |
Graham, Zackary |
title |
The longer the better: evidence that narwhal tusks are sexually selected |
title_short |
The longer the better: evidence that narwhal tusks are sexually selected |
title_full |
The longer the better: evidence that narwhal tusks are sexually selected |
title_fullStr |
The longer the better: evidence that narwhal tusks are sexually selected |
title_full_unstemmed |
The longer the better: evidence that narwhal tusks are sexually selected |
title_sort |
longer the better: evidence that narwhal tusks are sexually selected |
publisher |
Zenodo |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.s1rn8pk43 |
genre |
narwhal* |
genre_facet |
narwhal* |
op_relation |
https://zenodo.org/communities/dryad https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.s1rn8pk43 oai:zenodo.org:4937417 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.s1rn8pk43 |
_version_ |
1810457170456608768 |