Determinants of Mating Success in the Golden Hamster ( Mesocricetus auratus ): III. Female Acceptance of Multiple Mating Partners

Female golden hamsters that have actively terminated mating with one male will solicit copulations from two or more novel males. Whereas most male mammals can increase their reproductive success by mating with more than one female, the adaptive significance of multiple-male matings is less apparent for females. In this study, it was demonstrated that female hamsters that mate only with a single recently mated male run a high risk of pseudopregnancy or reduced litter size. Females paired with males that had mated to satiety 30 min, 8 hr, or 24 hr earlier showed a reduced willingness to engage in lordosis than did females paired with a sexually rested (2 weeks) male. Females paired with recently mated males were also more likely to mate with additional (fresh) males than were females exposed to rested males. Furthermore, females presented with two anesthetized stimulus males readily discriminated between sexually rested and recently mated individuals. Neither prior sexual experience nor recent copulatory activity was required for this discrimination. Multiple-male mating (promiscuity) in female hamsters may be an adaptation against an infertile mating as a consequence of mating with a single recently mated, sperm-depleted male.