Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > Chatter > Found On The Net


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 02-14-2007, 11:24 AM   #1 (permalink)
Human
 
SecretMethod70's Avatar
 
Administrator
Location: Chicago
For Valentine's Day: Animal Courtship from Scientific American



Green Anoles
Green Anoles live in warm climates throughout the New World. Aside from their chameleon-like ability to change colors, the males of these small, agile lizards also possess a throat fan—known as a dewlap—which they use during territorial disputes and for courtship. When courting, a male will bob his head vigorously and may even perform an action that resembles push-ups. In response, a receptive female will bob her head in synchrony with the male.



Humpback Whale
During breeding season, which takes place over the winter months, groups of male humpback whales will display for potential mates by singing their famously haunting songs, breaching, and performing a host of other competitive displays that depend on speed, strength and size.



Alligator
Beginning in April or May, depending on the onset of warm weather, alligators engage in elaborate courtship rituals that can span up to two months. Both male and female alligators will nudge one another as well as bellow and blow bubbles underwater in bouts that can last from minutes to hours. Mating can occur throughout the prolonged courtship, but actual fertilization does not take place until near the end of the pair's time together.



Baboon
Like other intelligent, highly social primates, baboon courtship can take many different forms. In hamadryas baboons, for instance, males will maintain harems of multiple females which they will jealously guard—and which will occasionally be raided by other males. Males of other baboon species sometimes take a different tack: by "befriending" a female through attentive companionship and grooming (the primate equivalent of sparkling conversation) they may eventually be chosen as mates by those females.



Great Bustard
The world's largest flying bird, the male Bustard engages in an energetic display of his chest feathers that appears to be a classic example of what scientists call "honest signaling." That is, the features of the male's feathers and display that females find most attractive directly correlate with the overall health of the male, and by extension the fitness of his genes.



Green Iguana
Like Anoles, iguana courtship includes head-bobbing and flapping its dewlap (the flap of skin under its neck). As iguanas enter breeding season, males develop orange coloration over their arms and torso that may range in intensity from a dull brown to a bright, almost neon orange.



Frigate Bird
When a male frigate bird wants to get a date, it throngs with other males, inflates the patch of red skin on its throat (called the gular sac) and then waggles it from side to side while calling whenever a likely female flies by. If she likes what she sees, she'll join the male of her choice.



Mouse
Relative to other animals, mouse courtship is fairly involved. (Or perhaps, as one of the most-studied mammals ever, we simply have a more thorough understanding of it.) Either way, it includes everything from pheromones that allow females to detect whether or not genes governing males' immune systems are compatible with their own, to ultrasonic singing by male mice.



Dwarf Sea Horse
You probably already know that in sea horses it is the male that gets pregnant; he carries developing eggs until they hatch and are ready to venture out on their own. But before that occurs, a strange and intricate courtship must take place. Dwarf seahorses court over several days, moving from "reciprocal quivering" to mutual pointing with tails and ending in a brief copulation as the two fish rise in the water column.
__________________
Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling
SecretMethod70 is offline  
 

Tags
american, animal, courtship, day, scientific, valentine


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 11:12 PM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360