Hundreds of urine ‘stacks’ and hostages: 13 animals with very strange courtship rituals

In the world of people, planning the perfect Valentine’s Day may seem difficult – reserving a table and receiving bouquets and gifts can be quite tedious indeed. However, sometimes you’ll feel a little better when you learn how hard you have to work in the animal kingdom, Live Science writes.

Remember, many ways of caring for animals may seem very strange and bizarre to us, but no matter how extravagant and risky they are, they definitely work for the target audience. Get ready for some laughs with this compilation.

in 24News Breaker. The technology emerged telegraph channel. Subscribe so you don’t miss the latest and exciting news from the world of science!

giant pandas

Giant pandas are known to be extremely difficult to mate in captivity, sometimes nursery caretakers have to work hard to keep the process going. But what happens in the wild?

Footage from the documentary “Pandas: Born to be Wild (opens in new tab)” was shown in 2020, and the courtship moments of these animals have been captured for the first time. Later, the researchers witnessed how an old and young male fought for the heart of a female sitting in a tree high above the ground.

At first, the men had a tense confrontation, in which the young man clearly lost. However, the female was not ready to mate, so she got down from the tree, fought the old male, and fled. For several weeks, the two males continued to chase the female, snarling at each other until at one point the fan left this “marathon.” When the female was ready, she mated with a younger male who didn’t give up.

Researchers believe this long-term male competition, which includes taking females hostage, causes them to spawn. Scientists also think this may be one reason why pandas find it so difficult to mate in captivity – there is no male competition.

giraffes

It is the male giraffes who are truly unlucky in finding a mate. Imagine that in search of a female to mate with, they sometimes have to try about 150 servings of urine from different females until they find one that is ready to mate.

The thing is, the only way men can tell if they’re fertile is by tasting their urine to see if certain pheromones are present.

Due to their large size, they cannot smell the urine of females on the ground and therefore have to change their mouths many times to perform the “Flehmann reaction” and find it.

snail

Land snails are hermaphrodites, meaning any pair of snails can fertilize the other – both equipped with “love arrows” located near their eye stalks.

Snails use these appendages to pierce a mate to deliver a special mucus infusion that will fertilize the snail.

An interesting 2006 study showed that some species of snails use one appendage for fertilization, others use two appendages, and again some use one appendage, although the process can take almost an hour.

dinosaurs

Little is known about the habits of dinosaurs, but a 2016 study shows that ancient creatures practiced a type of ritual dance very similar to what modern birds do.

This is evidenced by the scratches on the stones that paleontologists found in the Colorado cliffs at four sites where the remains of Cretaceous dinosaurs were found. These scratches are also called “nest scrapers”, which some male birds create as a show of courtship.

black widow

Female black widows are known to be about twice the size of males, so smaller suitors have to take precautions when approaching a female’s web to avoid being eaten before they mate, mistaken for prey.

Males stay safe by vigorously shaking their asses, announcing their presence to the female. When a male takes his first step into the female’s web, he sends signals along the silk threads, making his belly vibrate. It moves forward, pauses and vibrates constantly.

The researchers also found that the vibrations emitted by males have a lower amplitude, which distinguishes them from the movement of prey, which is more dynamic and percussive.

sea ​​snail

Sea snails are also hermaphrodites and have both female and male organs. When couples come together to mate, they stab each other by stabbing the blades between their eyes, where they deliver a cocktail of prostate fluid to the partner using a needle-like appendage called a “penile stiletto.”

Researchers are still not sure why slugs attack this particular area of ​​the body, but they theorize that this hormonal injection increases the chances of successful fertilization.

puffer fish

The symmetrical patterns on the ocean floor were first noticed by divers in 1995, and in 2013 scientists finally figured out what they look like. It turns out that these are the tricks of the male puffer fish. It turned out that they were the ones who left these “mysterious circles” with a diameter of about 2 meters, while the size of the males could barely exceed 13 centimeters.

Males have been known to swim on the seafloor and flap their fins while forming surprisingly complex ridges and valleys. This process takes about 7-9 days, after which they decorate the circles with pieces of bark and sediment. After fertilizing the interested females, they lay their eggs in a nest located in the middle of the circle.

jumping spiders

Ultraviolet-reflecting body parts help jumping male spiders catch the females’ gaze with all eight eyes for a second. Males attract females by adopting positions where these glowing spots are clearly visible.

Curiously, females also have their own “flare trick”: they have palps on their heads, a pair of appendages that fluoresce green under ultraviolet light. Females use them to attract males.

Hummingbird

Male spatulate hummingbirds (Loddigesia mirabilis) lure females by wagging their long tails back and forth.

Note that these tails themselves are quite remarkable – two of the four feathers are 15 centimeters long, which is about twice the body length of the birds. In addition, these feathers have bright iridescent “blades” at the tips, which males fervently turn towards possible females.

huts

These birds are known for building incredibly complex structures to attract females. Sometimes they even decorate it with many colorful items that seem to be on display because of their aesthetic appeal. However, things are a little more complicated.

Researchers have found that male bowerbirds build their celibacy areas in such a way that when a male stands in front of them, they appear larger and more imposing to a female gazing at him from the outside.

mice

Curiously, male mice actually sing unique high-pitched songs in the ultrasonic range, allowing them to attract females.

A 2016 study found that they produce these whistling sounds that are very different from normal communication and create a kind of airflow feedback loop in the windpipe and larynx.

songbirds cordon bleu

Cordon Blue males display a wonderful mating dance—the scientists had to record a high-speed video to distinguish between the rapid tapping of their feet, because their movements are impossible to see with the naked eye.

hedgehogs

Male North American hedgehogs go to great lengths to win over females, who only go into heat for eight to twelve hours a year.

Before spawning, the female releases fragrant mucus, as a result, the lucky male has only 8-12 hours to sniff, drive away all rivals and encourage his mate to lay eggs.

Previously Focus He wrote about the wonderful animals that lived on prehistoric Earth: from giant penguins to ungulate whales.