Graduate Student Profile : Leslie Curren
My primary research interest is sexual selection in social mammals. Although my specific projects are still unclear, the anticipated focus of my dissertation is mate choice in spotted hyenas. Specifically, I hope to explore the roles of female choice and sperm competition. In
many species, the sperm of rival males compete to fertilize a female, implicating the size, speed, number, or motility of the sperm. Variation in these qualities can greatly affect individual male reproductive success. Several factors make sperm competition a likely
influence on sexual selection in spotted hyenas: the total lack of pre-copulatory male-male combat, litters with multiple sires, and an extremely lengthy, tortuous female reproductive tract. Although previous studies have found a weak correlation between male rank and
reproductive success, it has also been shown that females do not choose males based solely on rank. My goal is therefore to help clarify the mechanisms of female choice in hyenas by investigating the relationship between male rank and sperm fitness.
ljcurren [at] gmail.com