Galapagos seabirds are 'divorcing'

A study which looked into the mating habits of the Nazca booby, a seabird found in the Galapagos Islands, has found that after they have a few chicks the female bird wants a divorce.

The research, conducted by biology professor David J Anderson and doctoral student Terri Maness of Wake Forest University, used 14 years worth of data on the Nazca boobies and found that the majority of the 700 lady birds looked for a new partner during that period.

Ms Maness suggests that Mrs Booby may start hunting for a new man after her hubby gets worn-out from looking after their chick.

She said: "Our study population has 50 per cent more males than females, creating the opportunity for females to trade a current mate, which may be worn-out from recent breeding effort, for a 'refreshed' non-breeding male.

"This is one of the few studies that addresses divorce in successfully breeding bird pairs. This study really predicts that the probability of divorce increases with the birds' success at breeding and raising a chick, because the effort required may tire out the male and consequently his mate may reject him."