Reverse mounting in birds

Abstract

Reverse mounting has been extensively documented across avian taxa but has not received significant attention from behavioural ecologists or evolutionary biologists. In this review, we focus on the little which is known about this widespread behaviour, focusing on the existing adaptive and non-adaptive hypotheses for its origin and maintenance. We found evidence of reverse mounting in 42 species, across 11 orders and 21 families. This is likely to be a significant undercount of the number of species which exhibit reverse mounting. We highlight significant gaps in our knowledge of reverse mounting, and how they can be addressed. These include a lack of experimental studies on reverse mounting, as well as a complete lack of any studies on the neurobiology or endocrinology of reverse mounting. We also speculate about the potential evolutionary consequences of reverse mounting, in the context of how other previously overlooked non-reproductive sexual behaviours have been found to have significant evolutionary consequences.

Highlights

Reverse mounting is commonly found across a variety of bird species, but has yet to receive significant attention from evolutionary biologists and behavioural ecologists

Key Words:

• mounting
• ornithology
• sexual behaviour
• sex roles
• sexual selection

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTION

The entire paper is the work of D.A. Villar.

DATA ACCESSIBILITY

All data is contained in the references cited in the text.