Melbourne - August 2007
1. Various of black swans on lake
3. Swan being weighed, pan to Dr Raoul Mulder
4. Various of swan with cygnets
5. SOUNDBITE ( English ): Dr Raoul Mulder, Zoologist, University of Melbourne:
"Some females in the population are perfectly faithful to their partners, other females may have as many as three different fathers for their cygnets."
6. Various of swan and cygnets in Albert Park
7. Close of cygnets in grass
8. Dr Mulder examines swan
9. Swans and cygnets on lake
10. SOUNDBITE (English): Dr Raoul Mulder, Zoologist, University of Melbourne:
"The female has to sneak because if she doesn't sneak the male becomes aware of the fact he's been cuckolded and he might retaliate. In some species, the males withhold care for example so male swans play a very important part in incubation, they do about half of all the warming of the eggs, so a male that's cuckolded might decide to contribute less or leave more of the burden of incubation to the female."
11. Various of Dr Mulder examines data reader
12. Swan's face on measuring device
13. SOUNDBITE (English): Dr Raoul Mulder, Zoologist, University of Melbourne:
"What we're trying to find out is what's in it for both of the birds that participate. Now for males its pretty easy to see, they pass on their genes and they father a lot more off-spring. For females given there are risks and potential costs involved it's less clear what they'd get out of this, but we think one possibility is they might get better quality genes for their off-spring."
14. Swan and cygnets on grass
15. Pan from Dr Mulder to hands gluing microchip on to swan
16. Close of swan's face
17. Close data reader
18. Dr Mulder writing down data
19. SOUNDBITE ( English ): Dr Raoul Mulder, Zoologist, University of Melbourne:
"And the idea is that these microreaders have antennae, they sit on the female's back, and when a male comes very close to a female, so close in fact that they have to be copulating, the reader detects the male's identity and records his copulation. So what we do is we fit these readers onto female swans, they carry them for about a month or two before they start laying their eggs, and once a female's laid a clutch we re-capture her, we take off the unit, we spit out a month's worth of information and we see then all the different times that she's mated with a male and which male she's mated with."
20. UPSOUND ( English ): Dr Raoul Mulder, Zoologist, University of Melbourne:
"(Swan Squeaks) What I'm going to do now is measure the length of the head and bill."
21. Various of Dr Mulder's hands measuring the swan.
22. SOUNDBITE ( English ): Dr Raoul Mulder, Zoologist, University of Melbourne:
"And so what we can do in the study is look at females that have been involved in matings with other males and compare some of the traits that their partner male carries, how large he is, how many curled wing feathers he has, how well adorned he is, with a male that she's selected outside of the male pair bond."
23. Dr Mulder releases swan into lake
24. Pair of swans on lake
25. SOUNDBITE ( English ): Dr Raoul Mulder, Zoologist, University of Melbourne:
"People have huge amount of affection for swans and they think they understand swans very well and people are always telling me anecdotes about swans, this studies about trying to shatter some of the myths that exist about really familiar animals. And I always find it amazing that we probably know more about the surface of the moon than we do about iconic animals that are in our everyday environment like the swans. So what we're trying to do is just to show people the different side to these animals that are really familiar and that they know really well.
26. Information notice about research study
27. Pan from cygnets up to swan
LEAD IN
The mating habits of black swans have come under scrutiny from researchers at the University of Melbourne in Australia.
The native Australian birds have long been seen as a symbol of fidelity, taking one partner and forming a relationship for life.
However DNA tests have found many cygnets are actually fathered by male swans who are not their mother's life partner.
They're famous for mating for life, but it seems there are plenty of love rats in the matrimonial nest.
DNA testing into the secret sex life of Australia's black swan has discovered more than one in six cygnets are illegitimate.
The preliminary findings come from a scientific investigation of Melbourne's Albert Park flock that started during last year's breeding season.
Now researchers at the University of Melbourne's zoology department are trying to establish how the females manage to slip away to have an affair, when their partners are renowned for being protective.
For this they are no longer using DNA testing, but wireless tracking devices.
Dr Raoul Mulder, a senior zoology lecturer, says when a swan has sex with a bird other than its mate, it risks disease and the extreme displeasure of its partner, not unlike humans.
Mulder says a male swan may abandon a nest that does not contain its eggs and male incubation of eggs is crucial for a successful brood.
He says that the team want to understand why given the risks to her offspring a female swan would be unfaithful.
In an effort to learn more, up to 60 male swans at Melbourne's Albert Park Lake have been fitted with a tiny microchip attached to their tail feathers.
The females, in turn, with a miniature tracking device, known as a decoder.
Mulder says when a male swan copulates with a female the mating is recorded by her device.
At the end of the mating season they can look at the data collected by her decoder to see how many different males she has mated with.
Then they hope to compare the males to try to understand her choices of sexual partner and their genetic legacy.
Mulder says each swan has also been measured and fitted with a uniquely numbered leg band before being released.
He says the results will provide the first snapshot of a swan's true bedroom behaviour and could dispel the myth that swans have one life-long partner.
The research is part of a three-year study that will conclude in 2008.
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