Cricket females choose male losers

According to popular belief, females prefer males with high social status (alpha males) when as partners to continue the race. However, as recent studies have shown, males losing fights have equal or even greater chances ...

Quick quick slow is no-go in crab courtship dance


Male birds adjust courtship behavior based on social context

Male birds that have already paired up with a female aren't above looking for a little action on the side. A new study from The Auk: Ornithological Advances explores how male juncos adjust their courtship behavior to their ...

Courtship behavior trapped in 100-million-year-old amber

Courtship behaviours, frequent among modern insects, have left extremely rare fossil traces. In odonates, the male must persuade the female to mate in tandem and the female should be willing to engage her genitalia with the ...

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Courtship is the period in a couple's relationship which precedes their engagement and marriage, or establishment of an agreed relationship of a more enduring kind. In courtship, a couple get to know each other and decide if there will be an engagement or other such agreement. A courtship may be an informal and private matter between two people or may be a public affair, or a formal arrangement with family approval. Traditionally, in the case of a formal engagement, it has been perceived that it is the role of a male to actively "court" or "woo" a female, thus encouraging her to understand him and her receptiveness to a proposal of marriage. Within many western societies, these distinct gender roles have lost some of their importance and rigidity.

Courtship may include the couple going out together in public, (often known as dating), for a meal, movie, dance, sports or other social activity. Courtship may also involve private activities which usually include much talking together, perhaps by telephone or by electronic means such as text messages or e-mail. There is often exchange of letters, gifts, flowers and songs.
