The purpose of animal mating is to reproduce?
In the conjugal life and the continuation of offspring, animals and humans are very different, human beings have learned to hide their estrus period, and formed a monogamous system, reducing the number of offspring, but to the greatest extent to ensure that their offspring can grow up healthily, accept the most resources provided within the scope of their parents' ability.
This is rarely the case in the animal world, after all, the prosperity of man means that the race can reproduce. They should take into account the problems of the environment, when the cubs are born, food and water must be sufficient, the climate should not be too cold, and some animals will deliberately avoid the breeding period of natural enemies. Therefore, animals of the same race in the same area will be in heat at the same time, and mating will be done within a few days.
Females will choose males that look better, and will choose multiple males, such as smarter, more flexible, more robust, etc., to increase the genetic diversity of their offspring, improve the quality and survival rate of their offspring. Males will also find ways to leave more of their offspring, even at the expense of killing other people's offspring to make females estrus again.
In this way, there will be a struggle within the race every breeding period, to compete for the female, for the right to mate.
However, among all kinds of animals, 90% of birds choose monogamy, and many are still the objects of love, such as mandarin ducks, swans, albatrosses and so on.
What does the conjugal life of an animal that insists on monogamy look like?
Scientists divide animal monogamy into social monogamy and genetic monogamy.
Such a division is literally, social monogamy is a male and female living together and raising offspring together. But the children born to the female are not necessarily all males, and the males do not necessarily only find the female to give birth to them.
So in contrast, genetic monogamy is of course the child of the couple, and the couple is absolutely loyal to each other.
90% of birds choose monogamy, but in fact a 2012 study published in Molecular Ecology showed that 86% of bird species have offspring that some of them have offspring that are not their own biological children, and 20% of nests have at least one bird of unknown origin.
The Mandarin Duck, which is regarded by everyone as a symbol of love, was praised by the literati to the height of "only envying the Mandarin Duck and not envying the immortals", but in fact, the Mandarin Duck is quite scummy. Mandarin duck couples are only together during the breeding season, and during this time the male will guard the female until the female lays her eggs.
After that, the male flapped his wings and left, leaving only the female bird to incubate the eggs and find food, and after hatching the little Mandarin duck, she also had to raise and protect the little Mandarin duck.
And in a pair of Mandarin duck partners, one of them dies, and the other party will go to the next one without nostalgia, which is not a feeling of death at all.
Swans are a little better than Mandarin ducks, at least swans are not so scummy, and swans are monogamous most of the time, but occasionally cheat.
Especially when the husband and wife take turns to incubate the eggs, the one responsible for going out to find food is mostly cheating at this time, but even if the cheating male swans will still help to incubate the eggs together to feed and protect the baby swans.
Scientists have found that about one in six cygnets are not born to their father.
However, once the male swan discovers that the eggs in its nest are not its offspring, or that it discovers that the female swan has cheated, it will refuse to raise the baby swan.
Some birds go home with their wives and me, and as soon as they are separated, they play their own games, and some birds take the initiative to cheat in order to raise their husbands and add bricks and tiles to their own small families.
Almost all penguins are monogamous, and they are very loyal to each other, will accompany each other for a lifetime, and generally do not consider cheating.
However, the emperor penguin is a monogamous in stages, and the female penguin lays eggs during the breeding season, the male incubates the egg, and the female goes out to find food, and it is two months after leaving. The male will put the egg on his feet, can not let the egg to the ground, two months without any food to eat, this stage is also more difficult. When the little penguin breaks out of its shell, the female will come back to find her husband and children and take over the baby penguin. The male emperor penguin retires and returns to the sea, waiting for the next breeding season.
The Adélie penguins are interesting, they lay eggs before laying a nest with stones, and then lay eggs in the nest.
But the icy and snowy place in Antarctica originally has fewer penguins than penguins, so penguins who can have a bunch of stones are definitely sought-after objects.
What should I do if I can't find a stone and can't grab an object? The female penguin will take the initiative to cheat to find Wang Laowu next door, and after an indescribable review, steal a small stone to return to her home. The male penguin did not feel that his wife had brought him a green hat, because other penguins used the same method to trick stones from him.
There are records that an Adélie penguin got the stones of 62 individual penguins within an hour...
The strictest monogamy in nature should be the Black Vulture, which is the model animal of monogamy.
They are very strict about monogamy, and if a black vulture cheats, whether male or female, its partner will hit it and refuse to mate with it from then on.
Not only that, but the deeds of the derailed party will spread throughout the area, and it will be spurned by all the black vultures, and even expelled.
To tell the truth, the black vulture that grows up in this environment is difficult to derail, and the cost of this derailment is too great, which is equivalent to breaking the eagle's way of life.
Therefore, don't just envy the Mandarin Duck and not envy the immortals, but really want to show loyalty to love, it is better to learn more about the Black Vulture.
In fact, in the animal kingdom, whether it is monogamous, or polygamous, or polygamous, the most fundamental thing is for better breeding offspring, for racial reproduction. Polygamy or polyandry can leave better genes, and monogamy can better protect future generations and let future generations grow up healthily.