mating

…organ for habitat selection and mating, using the snout to make deliberate contact with the object being investigated. These animals have a narrow groove close to each nostril that connects the upper lip with the nostril. During nose tapping, fluid moves along the grooves by capillary action and is driven,…

…that is characteristic of the mating pattern of the species.

…off onto the female during mating, and this changes her wax chemistry so that she is no longer attractive. Females of the vinegar fly, Drosophila, lose their attractiveness after mating by secreting wax with a different chemical profile.

…different from their own; thus, mating tends to occur between individuals with different MHCs. In order to detect different MHCs, an individual must be aware that a potential partner has a distinct smell. In mice the odor of the family in which they are reared becomes imprinted early in development.…

…also serve to coordinate the mating act. The range of a courtship signal should be small not only because the sender and receiver are close but also because the mating couple does not want to attract interlopers or predators. Therefore, in most cases, sounds, movements, and scents are low in…

Small populations suffer from inbreeding, an inevitable tendency of mating individuals in a small isolated population to be more closely related than they would be in a larger one. When population size is severely reduced, inbreeding may be the final insult that will…

…animals, behaviour that results in mating and eventual reproduction. Courtship may be rather simple, involving a small number of chemical, visual, or auditory stimuli; or it may be a highly complex series of acts by two or more individuals, using several modes of communication.

Some mating displays evolve from food-giving behaviours; the male bobwhite quail gives a food call and offers a tidbit to his potential mate. In many birds the food-giving behaviour is completely ritualized and proceeds without any exchange of food; domestic cocks, for example, call and peck…

The total act of copulation is organized in the anterior part of the hypothalamus and the neighboring septal region. In the male, erection of the penis and the ejaculation of semen are organized in this area, which is adjacent to the area that controls…

activity directed toward perpetuation of a species. The enormous range of animal reproductive modes is matched by the variety of reproductive behaviour.

…in pairs, nor is such mating practiced.

…this, the time of the mating season is clearly regulated, both with regard to the physiological condition of the animal and to the environmental conditions. The urge and capacity to mate depends on the ripeness of the gonads, male or female. In most animals, the reproductive glands wax and wane…

…are best thought of as mating effort (that is, effort directed at increasing the number of offspring a male sires), because they are usually not available at the time of birth or hatching to benefit the offspring sired by the male presenting the gift. The male’s paternity and the number…

Mating behavior in animals includes the signaling of intent to mate, the attraction of mates, courtship, copulation, postcopulatory behaviors that protect a male’s paternity, and parental behavior. Parental behavior ranges from none to vigilant care by both parents and even by additional group members. Biologists…

Mating behavior describes the social interactions involved in joining gametes (that is, eggs and sperm) in the process of fertilization. In most marine organisms, planktonic gametes are shed (or broadcast) into the sea where they float on the tides and have a small but finite…

As a result, mating is not a simple cooperative endeavor. On the contrary, male and female interests often conflict each step of the way, from mating to allocation of parental effort. The end result of these conflicts has been an extraordinary diversity of sexual ornaments, sexual signals, genital…

…is highly modified and in mating is autotomized (self-amputated) and left within the mantle cavity of the female. In the squids a much larger section of the arm may be modified; often the suckers are degenerate and the distal half of the arm bears rows of slender papillae, although special…

…noted for an exceptionally flexible mating and territorial system that reflects food density. They may be monogamous, polygamous, or polyandrous. Where food is plentiful, one male may overlap the territories of two or more females. When it is scarce, females have larger territories that overlap with two or more males.

Mating (copulation) is very brief, often completed in a few seconds and usually following the reproductive molt of the female, when her exoskeleton is still soft. The eggs are fertilized as they are extruded from the oviductal opening on the sternum of the sixth thoracic…

…to different habitats or find mates by swimming when visual predators find it hard to see them. In some cases only one sex will emerge at night, and often that sex is morphologically better suited for swimming.

…whereas in some cephalopod species mating or egg laying appears to be rapidly followed by death effected by hormones.

…year and generally rejoins its mate of the previous year, unless the death of the latter forces it to choose another partner. This applies even to the emperor penguin, which is capable of finding its mate despite the absence of a nest and the large size of the colony.

…of the fairy prion, the mating season for the tuatara occurs. During this period, social interactions between tuatara increase. A male defends his territory by inflating his body, erecting the crest on his head and neck, and shaking his head. Close encounters between males result in a sequence of mouth-gaping…