Courtship - week 6

One of the major drives of an animal's life is to find a mate and ensure the survival of the species through creating offspring. There are many different ways that animals find mates. Some sing, some dance, some decorate homes, some even change gender depending on what is needed! This week will look at courtship of mainly birds - displays that you will probably have seen before on Attenborough's shows.

Take a look at the link above. It contains videos of courtship behaviours, like the frigate bird's song and belly, designed to attract a mate. Most of these birds show evidence of sexual dimorphism - when the two genders of a bird look different. An example of this in the UK is the blackbird. 


Typically, the gender that is less showy is the chooser and the more showy is designed to attract a mate. In most animal species, the males tend to be the more showy (think: peacock) and the females tend to be choosy. Beautiful feathers are an honest sign of fitness. You can't maintain a plumage if you are full of disease and unable to find food, therefore you would be a poor choice of mate.


Your task this week is to find out about courtship behaviours and liken them to human behaviours. To do this, answer the questions below in the comments section.
  1. Find some courtship behaviours of 3 animals that interest you. Describe them (or include pictures). Try to pick at least 1 animal that is not a bird.
  2. Find an example of a species where the female is the showy sex.
  3. Can this be likened to human behaviours at all? Why do you think this? (No wrong answer so long as you can justify it!)
No potentially useful links this week as I want to see as much variety in behaviours as possible! 

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