In biology, what 3-letter word derived from the Swedish for 'play' is a gathering of males of certain bird species for the purposes of mating display?
"of male-male competition is important in lek formation and breeding. The colouration of the males allows them to visibly stand out from the brown forest floor. This bright colouration provides a sexual advantage for the adult males, increasing their likelihood of successfully mating. The result is rapid evolutionary selection within the species for brighter plumage and more conspicuous behaviour patterns in the males. The bright colouration also makes the males more susceptible to predation. Males are more expendable for this reason; only a small number of males are needed within any generation in order to perpetuate the species. While sexual"
"Lek mating A lek is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays, lekking, to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners for copulation. Leks are commonly formed before or during the breeding season. A lekking species is characterised by male displays, strong female mate choice, and the conferring of indirect benefits to males. Although most prevalent among birds such as black grouse, lekking is also found in insects including paper wasps, crustaceans, fishes, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. A classical lek consists of male territories in visual and auditory range of each other. An exploded lek,"
"Courtship display A courtship display is a set of display behaviors in which an animal attempts to attract a mate and exhibit their desire to copulate. These behaviors often include ritualized movement (""dances""), vocalizations, mechanical sound production, or displays of beauty, strength, or agonistic ability. In some species, males will perform ritualized movements to attract females. The male Six-Plumed bird-of-paradise, ""Parotia lawesii"", exemplifies male courtship display with its ritualized ""ballerina dance"" and unique occipital and breast feathers that serve to stimulate the female visual system. This stimulation, along with many other factors, results in subsequent copulation or rejection. In other"
"well as other birds such as grouse species. Lek mating A lek is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays, lekking, to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners for copulation. Leks are commonly formed before or during the breeding season. A lekking species is characterised by male displays, strong female mate choice, and the conferring of indirect benefits to males. Although most prevalent among birds such as black grouse, lekking is also found in insects including paper wasps, crustaceans, fishes, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. A classical lek consists of male territories in visual and"
"display' with wings and tail spread wide and held still for several seconds. Copulation is frequent and conspicuous, with both males and females copulating with several birds, while other members of the colony display or otherwise interfere with the mating pair. Copulation usually occurs on larger, exposed branches close to the nest site and can occur at any time of the day, although slightly more often between 11:00 and 13:00 when communal activities are less frequent. The frenzied courtship activity had led to speculation that the female mates promiscuously to recruit males to help care for the young, but recent"
"as seen in the kakapo (the owl parrot), has more widely separated territories, but still in auditory range. Lekking is associated with an apparent paradox: strong sexual selection by females for specific male traits ought to erode genetic diversity by Fisherian runaway, but diversity is maintained and runaway does not occur. Many attempts have been made to explain it away, but the paradox remains. The term derives from the Swedish ""lek"", a noun which typically denotes pleasurable and less rule-bound games and activities (""play"", as by children). English use of ""lek"" dates to the 1860s. Llewelyn Lloyd's ""The Game birds"
"Preening (bird) Preening is a maintenance behaviour found in birds that involves the use of the bill to position feathers, interlock feather barbules that have become separated, clean plumage, and keep ectoparasites in check. Though primarily an individual function, preening can also be a social activity involving two or more birds, which is known as allopreening. The use of the word ""preen"" to mean the tidying of a bird's feathers dates from Late Middle English. It appears to be a variant of the word ""prune""; one now obsolete definition of ""prune"" meant ""anoint"", based on the Latin ""ungere"", which had"
"are composed of synchronised performances of various actions such as preening, pointing, calling, bill clacking, staring, and combinations of such behaviours (like the sky-call). Each particular pair will develop their own individual version of the dance. The breeding behaviour of other Procellariiformes is less elaborate, although similar bonding behaviours are involved, particularly for surface-nesting species. These can involve synchronised flights, mutual preening and calling. Calls are important for helping birds locate potential mates and distinguishing between species, and may also help individuals assess the quality of potential mates. After pairs have been formed, calls serve to help them reunite; the"
"as courtship displays in mating swarms. Intermediate variations of such female-specific ornaments are sexually selected for by male dance flies in wild populations. These ornaments may also be a signal of high fecundity in females. Often, males and females will perform synchronized or responsive courtship displays in a mutual fashion. With many socially monogamous species such as birds, this duet facilitates pre-copulatory reassurance of pair bonding and strengthens post-copulatory dedication to the development of offspring (e.g. great crested grebe, ""Podiceps cristatus""). For example, male and female crested auklets, ""Aethia cristatella"", will cackle at one another as a vocal form of"
"the height of mating season, males gather in leks with multiple males defending a social display arena of much greater area than that of a lone male. The males each have their own area on the forest floor where they make their courts. The size of each court is about in diameter, and the next bird is often about away. The females and males live separately; only when it is time to mate do females fly over to observe and choose a male. When this occurs, the females tap the males from behind and insemination quickly follows. When females approach"
"most other birds of paradise, riflebirds are polygynous, with promiscuous males displaying to and mating with several different females. Birds of paradise are well known for their elaborate courtship displays. Unlike some however, male riflebirds display alone and have been seen during the breeding season to territorially defend displaying sites. Otherwise, male riflebirds are generally tolerant of other riflebirds. The breeding season for riflebirds is generally considered to be from June to February. During the breeding season, male Victoria’s riflebirds have been reported to have home ranges of 0.6 to 2.8 ha, containing up to 5 display posts. Paradise and"
"of birds can be found grazing in one pasture alone. They are considered pests by farmers due to the fact that they eat on the pastures that are used for cattle and sheep. They breed in densely-vegetated areas on plains or slopes, mostly in September and October, or November on the Falkland Islands. Males attract females through a courtship display in which they whistle loudly, to which the female responds with softer cackles. They are monogamous, and if a male encroaches on another's territory, a violent fight may break out. Males have been found injured or dead after these fights."
"in combination with the ""darting"" mechanism make the birds dangerous even to larger carnivorous mammals, and they will actually move towards an intruder to attack rather than defending passively or fleeing. They usually breed in colonies, occasionally mixed with cormorants or herons. The darters pair bond monogamously at least for a breeding season. There are many different types of displays used for mating. Males display to attract females by raising (but not stretching) their wings to wave them in an alternating fashion, bowing and snapping the bill, or giving twigs to potential mates. To strengthen the pair bond, partners rub"
"of special conservation significance. Hill-topping (biology) Hill-topping (more often spelt hilltopping) is a mate-location behaviour seen in many insects including butterflies, dragonflies, bumblebees, wasps, beetles and flies. Males of many butterfly species may be found flying up to and staying on a hilltop - for days on end if necessary. Females, desirous of mating, fly up the hill. Males dash around the top, competing for the best part of the area - usually the very top; as the male with the best territory at the top of the hill would have the best chance of mating with the occasional female,"
"with sky-dives that can cover over . One study found undulating display flights more than three times more often done by males than females. After display flights have concluded, the male typically brings a prepared fresh prey item to the female as part of the courtship. In general, these displays are presumably to show (or reinforce) to the potential mate their health and prowess as breeding partner. Copulation is brief and frequent, ranging up to nearly 520 times per clutch (on average about 10 times a day or 100-300 throughout the season), and may be the male’s way of ensuring"
"stay together within flocks. Flocks increase in size in autumn and birds congregate at dusk for communal roosting, with up to several thousand individuals gathering at one site. At Uppsala, Sweden, 40,000 birds have been recorded at a single winter roost with mated pairs often settling together for the night. Western jackdaws frequently congregate with hooded crows or rooks, the latter particularly when migrating or roosting. They have been recorded foraging with the common starling (""Sturnus vulgaris""), Northern lapwing (""Vanellus vanellus""), and common gull (""Larus canus"") in northwestern England. Flocks are targets of coordinated hunting by pairs of lanner falcons"
"They are mostly monogamous (although occasionally some males attempt polygamy) and defend territories from other breeding pairs, although non-breeders are tolerated inside territories. Pair formation occurs some months before breeding, and males feed females as part of the courting rituals. Before breeding the male snipe also perform nocturnal aerial ""hakawai"" displays with calls followed by a non-vocal roar created by diving birds driving fast moving air across the rectrices of the tail. This display is thought to be the origin of the Māori legends about the Hakawai, a term which has been extended to refer to the aerial displays. Both"
"Mating In biology, mating (or mateing in British English) is the pairing of either opposite-sex or hermaphroditic organisms, usually for the purposes of sexual reproduction. Some definitions limit the term to pairing between animals, while other definitions extend the term to mating in plants and fungi. ""Fertilization"" is the fusion of both sex cell or gamete. ""Copulation"" is the union of the sex organs of two sexually reproducing animals for insemination and subsequent internal fertilization. Mating may also lead to external fertilization, as seen in amphibians, fishes and plants. For the majority of species, mating is between two individuals of"
"displays to attract mates. ""Mirafra apiata"", commonly known as the Clapper lark, engages in a complex display flight that is characterized by the rattling of the wings. Many species of birds use sonation for mating calls such as manakins and hummingbirds. However, peacocks exhibit a feature of sonation that reveals intrasexual and intersexual properties of this type of mating call. Males move their feathers to produce low-frequency sonations (infrasound) and sonate more frequently in response to sonations by other males. This is attributable to a male's desire to advertise its presence above other males looking for mates, suggesting that sonation"
"depending on the circumstances. Breeding usually involves some form of courtship display, typically performed by the male. Most displays are rather simple and involve some type of song. Some displays, however, are quite elaborate. Depending on the species, these may include wing or tail drumming, dancing, aerial flights, or communal lekking. Females are generally the ones that drive partner selection, although in the polyandrous phalaropes, this is reversed: plainer males choose brightly coloured females. Courtship feeding, billing and are commonly performed between partners, generally after the birds have paired and mated. Homosexual behaviour has been observed in males or females"
"in fewer than 10% of the instances. Among caged birds, confining a bird with an incompatible or very dominant cage mate can lead to excessive allopreening, which can result in feather plucking or injury. Preening (bird) Preening is a maintenance behaviour found in birds that involves the use of the bill to position feathers, interlock feather barbules that have become separated, clean plumage, and keep ectoparasites in check. Though primarily an individual function, preening can also be a social activity involving two or more birds, which is known as allopreening. The use of the word ""preen"" to mean the tidying"
"Social monogamy in mammalian species Monogamous pairing refers to a general relationship between an adult male and an adult female for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It is particularly common in birds, but there are examples of this occurrence in reptiles, invertebrates, fish, amphibians, and mammals. Social monogamy in mammals is defined as a long term or sequential living arrangement between an adult male and an adult female (heterogeneous pair). It should not be confused with genetic monogamy, which refers to two individuals who only reproduce with one another. Social monogamy does not describe the sexual interactions or patterns of"
"the rearing of the young. Social monogamy in mammalian species Monogamous pairing refers to a general relationship between an adult male and an adult female for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It is particularly common in birds, but there are examples of this occurrence in reptiles, invertebrates, fish, amphibians, and mammals. Social monogamy in mammals is defined as a long term or sequential living arrangement between an adult male and an adult female (heterogeneous pair). It should not be confused with genetic monogamy, which refers to two individuals who only reproduce with one another. Social monogamy does not describe the"
"birds, have elaborate plumage, song, and behaviour. These evolved through sexual selection by females. The males use these features alone or in combination to advertise their presence, and, especially but not only in species with lek mating, to compete with rival males. In a lek, the presence of multiple males advertises and potentially benefits all the males present, so they are both collaborating and competing. Breeding males may also advertise honestly to warn rival males of their strength, a classic example being the red deer, where the roaring of a rutting stag reliably signals its size. The honest advertisement benefits"
"sense, consisting of birds without a mate or territory. They are fiercely territorial, and, though rare, fights do break out if one strays onto another pair's territory, but dominant displays of aggression will normally see off the interloper. Pairs mate for life. To attract a mate (or impress his existing mate) the male performs a ritual aerial display before the beginning of spring. This spectacular display is known as 'the roller coaster'. He will rise high up in the sky, to turn and plummet downward, in a spiral, twisting and turning as he comes down. He then rises immediately upward"
"Hill-topping (biology) Hill-topping (more often spelt hilltopping) is a mate-location behaviour seen in many insects including butterflies, dragonflies, bumblebees, wasps, beetles and flies. Males of many butterfly species may be found flying up to and staying on a hilltop - for days on end if necessary. Females, desirous of mating, fly up the hill. Males dash around the top, competing for the best part of the area - usually the very top; as the male with the best territory at the top of the hill would have the best chance of mating with the occasional female, who knows the ""top"
"with European pied flycatchers in Norway produced results that refute the deception hypothesis. The secondary female birds in their study raised larger clutches than primary females. The study also showed that deception is not an evolutionarily stable strategy for males, because secondary females would notice the frequent visits to the primary females and then elect to choose another mate. According to the deception hypothesis, already-mated males display polyterritorial behavior that increases their chances of acquiring another mate. Unmated males were shown to display mating behavior, consisting mostly of singing, at their nest site. On the other hand, already-mated males would"
"and shoulder-feathers exposed. The male begins building the nest, but once a pair is formed both birds of the pair participate in the nest's construction and remain close together. Copulation occurs after the nest has been constructed, while the female is dominant in the pair for a time. The male invites the female to copulate by giving the crouching courtship display, and after ignoring and pecking at him initially, the female solicits copulation by crouching herself. When four vagrants were in the Netherlands in May 2013, a male was seen mounting a second male, apparently after the second crouched submissively"
"upper bird may direct their tail streamers down to touch their partner mid-flight and may last for hundreds of meters. Once the pair bond is formed, the pair will establish their nesting site and copulate in the nest. Aerial courtship behaviour has been shown to attract more available breeding birds from nearby grounds and also believed to synchronize breeding timing with other individuals or neighboring groups .Aerial displays when in a group are shown to most commonly occur during the morning, with numbers decreasing toward the afternoon as mates are selected or individuals give up Seabird breeding behavior The term"
"been suggested as a possible cause of sexual disruption in other bird species. Mallards form male-female pairs only until the female lays eggs, at which time the male leaves the female. Mallards have rates of male-male sexual activity that are unusually high for birds, in some cases, as high as 19% of all pairs in a population. Kees Moeliker of the Natural History Museum Rotterdam has observed one male mallard engage in homosexual necrophilia. Penguins have been observed to engage in homosexual behaviour since at least as early as 1911. George Murray Levick, who documented this behaviour in Adélie penguins"
"Polyandry in nature In behavioral ecology, polyandry is a class of mating system where one female mates with several males in a breeding season. Polyandry is often compared to the polygyny system based on the cost and benefits incurred by members of each sex. Polygyny is where one male mates with several females in a breeding season (e.g., lions, deer, some primates, and many systems where there is an alpha male). A common example of polyandrous mating can be found in the field cricket (""Gryllus bimaculatus"") of the invertebrate order Orthoptera (containing crickets, grasshoppers, and groundhoppers). Polyandrous behavior is also"
"play by the Australian magpie gymnorhina tibicen based on Eshkol-Wachman notation. Bird Behaviour. 3:61–79; 1981 Pellis, S. M. An analysis of courtship and mating in the Cape Barren goose Cereopsis novaehollandiae latham based on Eshkol-Wachman movement notation. Bird Behaviour. 4:30–41; 1982. Pellis, S. M. Development of head and foot coordination in the Australian Magpie gymnorhina tibicen, and the function of play. Bird Be haviour. 4: 57–62; 1983. Pellis, S. M. What is ""fixed"" in a fixed action pattern? A problem of methodology. Bird Behaviour. 6: 10–15; 1985. Whishaw, I. Q.; Kolb, B. The mating movements of male decorticate rats: evidence"
"Breeding pair Breeding pair is a pair of animals which cooperate over time to produce offspring with some form of a bond between the individuals. For example, many birds mate for a breeding season or sometimes for life. They may share some or all of the tasks involved: building a nest, incubating the eggs and feeding and protecting the young. The term is not generally used when a male has a harem of females, such as with mountain gorillas. True breeding pairs are usually found only in vertebrates, but there are notable exceptions, such as the Lord Howe Island stick"