Decision maker: Black female Gouldian finch choosing between a black and a red male (click button above for second image).
Credit: Sarah Pryke
Startling plumage: Male finch with a red head.
Credit: Sarah Pryke
"This is the best experimental evidence to date of mothers manipulating the sex of their offspring in a vertebrate," said Michael Jennions a behavioural ecologist at the Australian National University in Canberra.
The findings will contribute to conservation efforts to save the dwindling population of Gouldian finches in Australia's northern savannahs. As populations decline, the number of mixed pairings may increase, leading to a possible daughter-shortage. As a result, "we may lose one or other morph and the species as we know it" said Pryke.
Pryke is travelling to the Kimberley region next month to monitor wild Gouldian finch populations over the breeding season.
