Courting rituals in the wild

Cool examples of animal mating rituals shared by the National Wildlife Federation:

* Extreme makeover, avian edition: The male bower bird is a woman’s dream: he’s an excellent carpenter and fabulous decorator. He builds a stick structure called a bower and then decorates it to impress the ladies. He picks a monochromatic color scheme for his decor, which can include shells, feathers, flowers, and even bits of string, plastic and other man-made items – all to entice a female companion.

In spring, male house wrens migrate north a week or two before the females. They use that time to build multiple nests to impress the girls. When a female finally picks a male and one of his abodes, she moves in and rebuilds his “bachelor pad” nest.

* Flashy fake-out: Some insects take advantage of the visual displays of the opposite sex as a way to score a meal. Male fireflies flash their light and wait for the females hidden in the vegetation to flash back. One species has learned to mimic the return flash of the female of another species, and when the hopeful male shows up to introduce himself, she eats him, then goes on to mate with a male of her own species.

* Man-icures: To impress a particular gal, a male painted turtle swims to face her and then waves his long claws in her face in the hopes of turning her on.

* Wing bling: In the bird world, guys sport the fancy ornamentation. Females usually have drab, earthy colors – for camouflage as they sit on the nest. A male’s flashy feathers are an indication that he’s in good health and can father fit offspring with a good chance of survival.