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Humans use all kind of tricks to win over mates, but in nature you would think that it would be all about honest competition. Trickery is used as it sometimes works and evolution doesnt actually care how living things go about getting their genes into the next generation, so long as they succeed in getting them there.
1) Peacocks pretend to Be getting it On
Male peacocks are supposed to be poster children for sending honest signals. Peacocks when they find themselves alone, they will let out a loud, hooting copulatory call, making it sound like they're having some hot bird sex with a lucky (but imaginary) peahen. The peahens are attracted to the sound of the hoot, and this gives the male a chance to get some real action going on once she arrives. A recent study estimated that up to a third of these peacock hoot calls were fake. Its a trick that works to get the peahen attention but researchers still dont know whether it makes them more likely to put out.
2) Antelopes Pretend There's Something Scary Out There
Antelopes live in loose herds and warns one another with a characteristics snort when predators creeps to close. females dont change their wandering ways during the breeding season but the male's do, stating out a piece of real estate with piles of their own dung, chasing off the other males and waiting for females to visit. The female when she enters the male territory will mate but she likely to go to another male's territory when they are finish. The male will get more chances to be the father of the next calf if he can keep her there longer. So when she starts to leave, he'll prick his ears, stare off in the direction she's headed and snort the predator warning. There is no predator but the warning makes the female sticks around a little longer. Researchers studying this behavior found that males made about nine fake snorts for every real one and they often got to mate after giving her a snot
3) Green Frogs Pretend to be Bigger than they Really are
The green frogs banjo-like call is supposed to attract females to his piece of the pond and keep males away. But basic physics conspires against him if he?s smaller than average: smaller males have smaller vocal cords and sing at higher pitches than large males. Large males tend to win in a fight for territory, so what?s a little guy to do? Pitch your voice unnaturally low, of course! It?s not clear whether that lower froggy voice is a turn-on for females, but the evidence suggests it?s a useful strategy to keep rival males away from his pad, which gives a littler frog more uninterrupted time for wooing.
4) Cuttlefish Pretend They're not Courting
Thanks to the pigment-bearing chromatophores embedded in their skin, cuttlefish have amazing powers of disguise. They can look like a lot of things they?re not: the sandy sea bottom, a pile of rocks, or a member of the opposite sex. Male mourning cuttlefish from Australia use this ability to take sexual mimicry to a new level. If a male finds himself swimming between a rival male and a female, he?ll put female colors on the side of his body that faces his rival, but flash courtship stripes on the side the female can see. Researchers have found that the tactic seems to work: the female disguise keeps larger males from tangling with the cross-dressing cuttlefish, while he mates with females who?ve seen his sexier side.
5) Some Chinook Salmon Pretend To Be Female
Male Chinook Salmon come in two flavors. When the dominant male ?hooknose? form matures, he grows a hump, long teeth, and the eponymous hooked nose , all characteristics that help him fight other large males and guard females until they?re ready to lay eggs. The other male type, the ?jack?, looks more like a female, and hides on the sidelines while the larger males duke it out. When a hooknose and his mate start to spawn, the jack male dashes over and around their nest, squirting sperm all the while. Jack sperm swim faster than hooknose sperm, so at least some of the eggs will wind up as the jack?s fry.
Sources: Dakin and Montgomorie 2014; Bro‐J?rgensen and Pangle 2010; Bee et al. 1999;Brown et al. 2012; Young et al. 2013; Schiestl, 2004]
Taken from: http://throb.gizmodo.com/5-animal-con-artists-that-use-trickery-to-get-sex-1705747082
1) Peacocks pretend to Be getting it On
Male peacocks are supposed to be poster children for sending honest signals. Peacocks when they find themselves alone, they will let out a loud, hooting copulatory call, making it sound like they're having some hot bird sex with a lucky (but imaginary) peahen. The peahens are attracted to the sound of the hoot, and this gives the male a chance to get some real action going on once she arrives. A recent study estimated that up to a third of these peacock hoot calls were fake. Its a trick that works to get the peahen attention but researchers still dont know whether it makes them more likely to put out.
2) Antelopes Pretend There's Something Scary Out There
Antelopes live in loose herds and warns one another with a characteristics snort when predators creeps to close. females dont change their wandering ways during the breeding season but the male's do, stating out a piece of real estate with piles of their own dung, chasing off the other males and waiting for females to visit. The female when she enters the male territory will mate but she likely to go to another male's territory when they are finish. The male will get more chances to be the father of the next calf if he can keep her there longer. So when she starts to leave, he'll prick his ears, stare off in the direction she's headed and snort the predator warning. There is no predator but the warning makes the female sticks around a little longer. Researchers studying this behavior found that males made about nine fake snorts for every real one and they often got to mate after giving her a snot
3) Green Frogs Pretend to be Bigger than they Really are
The green frogs banjo-like call is supposed to attract females to his piece of the pond and keep males away. But basic physics conspires against him if he?s smaller than average: smaller males have smaller vocal cords and sing at higher pitches than large males. Large males tend to win in a fight for territory, so what?s a little guy to do? Pitch your voice unnaturally low, of course! It?s not clear whether that lower froggy voice is a turn-on for females, but the evidence suggests it?s a useful strategy to keep rival males away from his pad, which gives a littler frog more uninterrupted time for wooing.
4) Cuttlefish Pretend They're not Courting
Thanks to the pigment-bearing chromatophores embedded in their skin, cuttlefish have amazing powers of disguise. They can look like a lot of things they?re not: the sandy sea bottom, a pile of rocks, or a member of the opposite sex. Male mourning cuttlefish from Australia use this ability to take sexual mimicry to a new level. If a male finds himself swimming between a rival male and a female, he?ll put female colors on the side of his body that faces his rival, but flash courtship stripes on the side the female can see. Researchers have found that the tactic seems to work: the female disguise keeps larger males from tangling with the cross-dressing cuttlefish, while he mates with females who?ve seen his sexier side.
5) Some Chinook Salmon Pretend To Be Female
Male Chinook Salmon come in two flavors. When the dominant male ?hooknose? form matures, he grows a hump, long teeth, and the eponymous hooked nose , all characteristics that help him fight other large males and guard females until they?re ready to lay eggs. The other male type, the ?jack?, looks more like a female, and hides on the sidelines while the larger males duke it out. When a hooknose and his mate start to spawn, the jack male dashes over and around their nest, squirting sperm all the while. Jack sperm swim faster than hooknose sperm, so at least some of the eggs will wind up as the jack?s fry.
Sources: Dakin and Montgomorie 2014; Bro‐J?rgensen and Pangle 2010; Bee et al. 1999;Brown et al. 2012; Young et al. 2013; Schiestl, 2004]
Taken from: http://throb.gizmodo.com/5-animal-con-artists-that-use-trickery-to-get-sex-1705747082