During the breeding season, male and female crested auklets (Aethia cristatella) grow a distinct group of bristle feathers on the top of their head. Scientists have for some time known that both sexes show a preference for selecting mates with larger crests. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks have discovered that the larger feathers a male crested auklet has, the lower its stress hormones. This suggests that males with larger crests may be better able to cope with the demands of reproduction, foraging, and competition. As a result, they could be better mates than males with smaller crests and higher stress hormones.
Crested auklets are small seabirds that gather to breed in colonies along the coastlines and islands of the Bearing Sea, North Pacific, and Okhotsk Sea. They nest on cliffs, in boulder fields, and on sea-facing talus slopes. Crested auklets are socially monogomous but Hector Douglas, one of the study's lead authors, noted that females will abandon their current mate in favor of a male with a larger crest:
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