Posted on 05/22/2010 7:14:41 AM PDT by JoeProBono
During mating season, male topi antelope trick females with false alarms of nearby danger to boost chances for sex, a new study says.
If a female starts wandering out of a male's territory, the male will begin snorting and staring, ears pricked, at nonexistent predators.
"The female will be walking away, and the male runs in front, looks not at the female but where she's going, makes this snort, and she typically stops," said lead researcher Jakob Bro-Jørgensen of the University of Liverpool.
The researcher, who observed the topi's tricky behavior in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve, noted that the males issue fake warnings only when the wandering females are in heat.
Bro-Jørgensen thinks male topi might have evolved the behavior to better their odds during the brief but intense mating season.
One day a year females are in heat, and during that period they will have sex with an average of four different mates, 11 times each.
Tricking a female into sticking around for a few extra minutes gives the buck more chances for sex and denies other males the opportunity, Bro-Jørgensen said.
(Jumping up & down excitedly) “Today’s the day! Today’s the day!”
“Biker bars”
;]
since we’re to accept animal behavior as normative for homosexuals, then I guess we see how silly that approach is once we start dealing with antelopes.
Better let me walk you to your car honey. There have been quite a few attacks lately in this part of town.
Doesn't Humble use a similar technique?
You walk into a bar and he pulls you real close and says, “Stay close baby, this joint is kinda rough. I’ll protect you.”
During mating season, male topi antelope trick females with false alarms of nearby danger to boost chances for sex, a new study says.
Big deal. All us guys all did that back in the 60's.
Good thing the laws were different then.
...............
The reason these male antelopes appear to be inventing threats to scare the females is, they are homophobic. ;’)
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