Sex-specific growth and morphometric sexing of chicks of the Black-headed Gull ( Chroicocephalus ridibundus )

Abstract

In birds, sexual size dimorphism often becomes evident as early as chicks’ growth stage. A larger sex usually has an advantage in food competition among siblings. In the smaller sex, the lesser ultimate size can be compensated by faster growth or earlier fledging. As a consequence, sex differences can manifest themselves not only in body size but also in the body condition or the rate of weight gain. This phenomenon provides additional opportunities for sexing of chicks by discriminant analysis of growth parameters. Our work deals with the influence of sex on the growth of Black-headed Gull chicks. Using logistic models, we examined growth patterns of 80 males and 76 females from hatching to departure from breeding colonies during three seasons. In males, the total head length, tarsus length, and body mass were greater than those in females from the first days of life and reached large asymptotic values. Tarsus length was a better predictor of sex than head length or body mass was. The sex of chicks did not have a significant effect on global growth rates; however, compared to males, females had a lower body condition (the difference between observed and expected chick body mass) at age 8 days and gained less weight between 21 and 28 days. Using these differences, we developed a discriminant function that allowed to correctly predict the sex of 88.5% of Black-headed Gull chicks before fledging.