title: Winning and losing in public: audiences direct future success in Japanese quail.
abstract: Among vertebrates, winning a fight enhances the probability of future victories and vice versa and the role of post-conflict testosterone in mediating this 'winner effect' is widely accepted. In a series of staged fights of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) we tested both opponents' pre-fight and post-conflict testosterone, behavior and dominance status after returning to their social groups. We found that the presence of a familiar mixed-sex audience during the encounter modulated both the testosterone response and the long-term success after a fighting experience. 'Public losers' but not 'public winners' lacked a post-conflict testosterone response, whereas without an audience both winners and losers increased testosterone metabolite levels. Long-lasting winner and loser effects exclusively occurred when the performance information was perceived by a mixed-sex audience. In further experiments we manipulated the testosterone responsiveness of either the loser or the winner. An artificial post-conflict testosterone surge after having lost a fight effectively reversed the loser effect in Japanese quail. In contrast, the 'winner effect' was not changed by blocking testosterone after the fight. Overall, male Japanese quails' post-conflict testosterone was connected to the audiences and thus, own or the observers' perception of the challenge rather than to winning or losing a fight.
authors: Department of Behavioural Neurobiology, Max-Planck-Institute for Ornithology, Eberhard-Gwinner-Straße Haus 6a, D-82319 Seewiesen, Germany. khirschenhauser@orn.mpg.de
authors: Katharina
authors: K
authors: Hirschenhauser
authors: Manfred
authors: M
authors: Gahr
authors: Wolfgang
authors: W
authors: Goymann
mesh_terms: D000279:Administration, Cutaneous; D000378:Agonistic Behavior / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D000726:Androgen Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003370:Coturnix / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005485:Flutamide / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D018401:Sample Size; D012930:Social Dominance; D013739:Testosterone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000726:Androgen Antagonists; D013739:Testosterone; D005485:Flutamide