Birds do it. Bees do it. Fish, lobsters, frogs and lizards do
it, too. But when it comes to securing a mate in the animal
world, variety is literally the spice of life. Scientists from
Simon Fraser University, Concordia University and Dalhousie
University have found flexibility in mating rituals is the key
to reproductive success when males outnumber females. The
research team pored through hundreds of investigations on mating
trends in mammals, insects, fish, crustaceans, amphibians and
reptiles. “We found there’s significant flexibility in mating
behaviour and customs across many species,” says study co-author
James W.A. Grant, professor in the Department of Biology at
Concordia University. During mating periods, as males compete
for females, courtship behaviour can morph from fighting to
desperate searching when males are outnumbered. “We tend to
think that more males lead to more fighting, but after a point,
fighting with every male around gets too tiring and risky
because of the increased chances of inju