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Posted on 05/22/2010 11:06:18 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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 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... 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... Animals use trickery of all sorts in the wild -- for instance, some birds fake injuries to lure attackers away from their young... Rainy added that he has seen similar "false alarm" behavior among other species of antelope, including impalas and Thomson's gazelle... Antelopes in general are known to rely on several forms of deception, he added. In some cases, antelope won't give warning signals if they see predators stalking their rivals, Rainy said. Male topi will also chase topi calves in a fake show of anger, to get their mothers and other females to stay close by.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalgeographic.com ...
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