Demure Male Albatross Twice as Likely to Get Divorce Than Aggressive Rivals [Study]

The wandering seabird, albatross, is a monogamous animal that serves its loyalty to a single partner. But whether a pair remains together or until death mostly depends upon the male albatross' personality, based on recently published research. The study found that demure male albatrosses tend to have divorced.

According to the research's senior author and seabird ecologist Stephanie Jenouvrier, they assume that the male albatrosses are bold and more aggressive and prefer to have a separation because they are "more likely to take risks" of exchanging mates to improve their future reproductive outcomes.

But instead, they figured that the shy seabirds divorce more "because they are more likely to be forced by a competitive intruder, according to Professor Jenouvrier, an associate scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute's FLEDGE Lab.

The connection between personality and divorce can help the researchers to predict the albatross' resiliency of population over time.

Wandering for Breeding

The lead author of the research and seabird biologist, Doctor Ruijiao Sun from MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (MIT-WHOI) collaborative program, said that the "wandering albatross is a vulnerable species."

Understanding the bird's behavior after divorce is significant to foresee population dynamics and conservation efforts. 

The wandering albatross is considered the largest and most studied species of bird in the world, despite being the final kind of albatross to be formally described by science. 

They have the longest wingspan of any living bird, averaging between 10 feet for adults from the island of Crozet. They can be seen roaming around the Southern Oceans.

Albatross or Diomedea exulans come to dry land to breed on small subantarctic islands starting in early November. The whole breeding period lasts for two and a half months, which includes both parents and chick-rearing lasts up to 280 days. These seabirds tend to breed once every two years.

The wandering albatrosses spend most of their lives in flight and traveling long distances for food search.

Professor Jenouvrier was told by Doctor Sun via email about the importance of breeding wandering albatrosses. She mentioned that the individual albatrosses "have to make a trade-off between reproduction for their survival." 80% of the seabirds take an annual sabbatical after the breeding season, Miss Sun added to the email, as she told Forbes.

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The Shy Seabird Finishes the Last

For over a decade, scientists measured the boldness of approximately 2,000 albatrosses by observing how they would act against a human approaching their nests. They have found that the more demure male albatrosses were up to twice as likely to get divorced than other bolder rivals. The difference was not found in female birds.

Doctor Sun stated, "we show for the first time the link between personality and divorce in a wild species, thanks to probably the best dataset in the world."

The study claims that the seabirds raised their wings, danced, and squawked as a form of their courtship process. Furthermore, a pushy male intruder tries to butt in during the courtship. The more demure male albatross avoids confrontation and readily accepts divorce.

The scientists clarified that other aspects affect the birds' divorce rate. When it comes to numbers, there are more male albatrosses compared to females. The female birds tend to forage in some regions where they get tangled up in fishing lines.

On the other hand, the flock of male birds means females can quickly look for a new partner, which can take up to more than four years, the research added.

Professor Jenouvrier said that couples in long-term relationships have fewer divorce rates than new ones.

The study also suggests that climate change could be another driver of the seabirds' separation, as the albatrosses have to fly further, finding the decreasing numbers of fish.

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