- •Introduction
- •Verreaux’s sifaka
- •Identification: Males reach 8–10 feet in length and have a massive neck, shoulders, and mane; females are smaller.
- •Identification: a large deer (standing 4-5 feet at the shoulder) with brownish red fur and a pale rump patch; males generally have enormous antlers and a long mane.
- •Identification: a 3-4-foot-tall deer with a brownish coat and large antlers (3 feet long) in males.
- •Identification: a medium-sized deer typically with a grayish brown coat and white underparts, and antlers in both sexes. Moose
- •Identification : The largest species of deer (weighing up to 1,300 pounds); has slender legs, a pendulous nose, and (in males) prominent palmate antlers and a dewlap or “bell” beneath the throat.
- •Identification: The tallest mammal (up to 19 feet), with a sloping back, enormously long neck, bony, knobbed “horns” in both sexes, and the familiar reddish brown spotted patterning.
- •Identification: a deer-sized mammal with distinctive, sharply forked horns in males and reddish brown fur with white patches.
- •Identification: a medium-sized gazelle; males have distinctive spiral horns and a black-and-white coat; females and juvenile males are tan colored.
- •Identification: a large wild sheep (weighing up to 300 pounds) with massive spiral horns in males; coat is brown with a white muzzle, underparts, and rump patch.
- •Identification: Similar to Bighorn, except smaller and with thinner horns; coat is all white or brownish black to gray,
- •Identification: a large (6—8—foot—long) mammal with long, shaggy fur, humped shoulders, and massive, down-sweeping horns.
- •Identification: a stocky, 3-foot-tall, goatlike mammal with shaggy white fur and sharp horns in both sexes.
- •Identification: An enormous buffalo (up to 61/2 feet high) with massive forequarters, humped shoulders, and (in males) a beard.
- •Identification: Similar to American Bison but more slender, less hunched, and with longer legs.
- •Identification: a huge (II-foot-long), usually black buffalo with massive, upward-curving horns in both sexes.
- •Identification: The familiar wild horse with a black-and-white-striped pattern; Mountain Zebras usually have a distinctive dewlap.
- •Identification: a 3—5-foot-long wild pig with a large head, prominent tusks, and distinctive warts in front of the eyes and on the jaw..
- •Identification: a piglike mammal with grayish, speckled, or salt-and-pepper fur and a light-colored collar.
- •Identification: The familiar large (up to 71/2 tons), trunked mammal with enormous ears and tusks in both sexes.
- •Identification: a large wild cat (up to 550 pounds) with a prominent mane in males.
- •Identification: a small canid (body length up to 3 feet) with a bushy tail and a reddish brown coat (although some variants are silvery or black).
- •Identification: The largest wild canid (reaching up to 7 feet in length) with a gray, brown, black, or white coat.
- •Identification: a small (3 foot long), reddish brown, bearlike canid with short legs and tail. Social Organization
- •Identification: a huge bear (7–10 feet tall) with dark brown, golden, cream, or black fur..
- •Identification: a smaller bear (4–6 feet) with coat color ranging from black to gray, brown, and even white. Park, Saskatchewan, Canada; subspecies u.A. Altifrontalis.
- •Identification: a yellowish brown hyena with spotted flanks and back, a strongly sloping body profile, and rounded ears; females typically heavier than males.
- •Identification: a large (over 3 foot tall) kangaroo with a gray coat and a hair-covered muzzle.
- •Identification: a smaller kangaroo (21/2 feet tall) with a reddish brown wash on its neck.
- •Identification: a light gray kangaroo standing up to 3 feet tall, with a white facial stripe and a long, slender tail.
- •Identification: a small (6–7 pound), rodentlike kangaroo with reddish brown fur.
- •Identification: Stocky, tree-dwelling kangaroos; chestnut or chocolate brown fur with lighter patches.
- •Identification: a small, mouselike marsupial with a thick, conical, fat-storing tail.
- •Identification: a catlike marsupial, up to 2 feet long, with grayish brown fur and white splotches.
- •Identification: a medium-sized (10—15 inch), primarily tree-dwelling squirrel with a reddish brown or tawny coat and white underparts, often with a dark stripe on the side.
- •Identification: a large (20 inch), tree-dwelling squirrel with a long, bushy tail and gray, grizzled, or buff fur.
- •Identification: Small, guinea-pig-like rodents with coarse fur; Dwarf Cavies have a distinctive white eye-ring, Cuis have yellow-colored incisors.
- •Identification: a small (less than I foot long) insectivore with sandy-colored spines, white underparts, and prominent ears.
- •Identification: a dark gray goose with fine silvery-white feather patterning; the wild ancestor of domestic geese.
- •Identification: a brown-plumaged goose with a distinctive black neck and white cheek patch; varies widely in size, from 2–24 pounds.
- •Identification: a pinkish-red-billed goose with two major color phases: all-white and “blue” (grayish plumage with a white head and neck).
- •Identification: The only swan with fully black plumage; wing feathers are white, bill is bright red, and the neck is especially long.
- •Identification: a large swan (up to 33 pounds) with a black knob at the base of its reddish orange bill (less prominent in females).
- •Identification: a familiar duck with a blue wing patch, an iridescent green head and white collar in males, and brown, mottled plumage in females.
- •Identification: a grayish brown duck with a light blue upper-wing patch, tawny spotted underparts, and white, crescent-shaped facial stripes in males.
- •Identification: a broad-billed duck with a purplish black head and breast and white underparts in males, and a dark head and brownish plumage in females.
- •Identification: Cinnamon breast, dark green head and back, and white collar; adult females have white eye and bill rings.
- •Identification: a large, grayish duck with a prominent lobe hanging from the lower bill, and a spike-fan tail..
- •Identification: a gull-sized, web-footed bird with contrasting black upperparts and white underparts; some individuals have a white eye ring.
- •Identification: a large, white-plumaged, gull-like bird with an enorous wingspan (over 61/2 feet), a dark back, and a grayish black wash on the face.
- •Identification: a large (3 foot), black, web-footed bird with a white throat and white filamentary plumes on the nape.
- •Identification: Similar to Great Cormorant, but smaller and uniformly black, with a prominent forehead crest.
- •Identification: a ducklike bird with grayish white plumage, bright red eyes, and yellow facial tufts.
- •Identification: Similar to Silvery Grebe, but with a buff or chestnut wash on the breast, white streaks on the head, and black-and-white eyes.
- •Identification: a stocky, medium-sized (2 foot long) heron with a black crown and back, white underparts, gray wings, and white ribbon plumes at the nape of the neck.
- •Identification: Long-legged, typically white herons with ornamental, filamentous plumes on the back, breast, and nape; these are golden-buff-colored in the Cattle Egret.
- •Identification: Similar to Little Egret but with slaty-gray plumage and a reddish brown head and neck.
- •Identification: a large (3 foot long) heron with a gray back, white head and neck, and black “eyebrow” stripe and nape plumes.
- •Identification: a large (nearly 20 inch) wading bird with bluish purple plumage, a red shield on its forehead, and red feet with long toes.
- •Identification: Similar to Pukeko, but flightless, and with grayish brown plumage, no red frontal shield, and shorter legs.
- •Identification: Similar to Pukeko, but with black plumage and shorter legs.
- •Identification: The largest flamingo species (4—5 feet tall) with plumage ranging from pale whitish pink to bright orange-pink.
- •Identification: a large (12 inch) sandpiper with gray or brownish plumage and, in some males, spectacular ruffs and feather tufts on the head that vary widely in color and pattern (see below).
- •Identification: a medium-sized (7—8 inch) wading bird with a small head and short beak, buff-colored face and underparts, and regular dark brown patterning on the back and crown.
- •Identification: a large (13—14 inch) sandpiper with streaked and spotted, dark brownish gray plumage; long and slightly upturned bill; greenish yellow legs.
- •Identification: Slightly smaller than the Greenshank; plumage grayish brown, with black and dark brown streaks and spots; orange-red legs.
- •Identification: a fairly large (12—15 inch) sandpiper-like bird with long pink legs, white plumage with black wings and back, and a slender black bill.
- •Identification: Similar to Black-winged Stilt but with entirely black plumage.
- •Identification: a medium-sized (10 inch) sandpiper-like bird with mottled buff and black plumage; adult males have a black face and underparts bordered with white.
- •Identification: a large gull (up to 27 inches) with a dark gray back and wings; spotted black-and-white wing tips; pink legs; and a yellow bill with a red spot.
- •Identification: a smaller gull (to 17 inches) with a blue-gray mantle; more pointed black wing tips; relatively short black legs and dark eyes; and a yellowish green bill.
- •Identification: a medium-sized (16 inch) gull with gray back and wings; spotted black-and-white wing tips; bright red bill and legs; white iris.
- •Identification: Similar to Silver Gull except larger (2 feet long), legs pinkish, bill yellow with a red spot, and iris yellow.
- •Identification: a medium-sized gull (to 17 inches) with a distinctive black or chocolate brown “hood,” red legs, and a gray back and wings.
- •Identification: a medium-sized (to 18 inches) black-headed gull with white eye-crescents, a dark gray back, and red legs and bill..
- •Ivory gull
- •Identification: An all-white gull with black legs and a blue-gray bill.
- •Identification: a large (to 22 inches) gull-like bird with a black cap and crest, light gray back and wings, forked tail, and long red bill with a black tip.
- •Identification: Similar to Caspian Tern but smaller (to 17 inches) and with a more deeply forked tail and slighter bill.
- •IdentifIfAtion: a crow-sized bird with cinnamon-brown plumage and a bare, blue-gray face..
- •Identification: Adult males are black with a red crown and a light blue patch on the back; yearling males and females are all green, while younger adult males are green with a reddish crown..
- •Identification: Small (5–7 inch) birds with brown and rufous plumage and a bluish gray patch around the eyes; Ocellateds have a distinctive scalloped pattern on the back feathers.
- •Identification: a small (5 inch), plain olive-green bird with a long tail and an ocher- or tawny-colored lower breast.
- •Identification: a small to medium-sized swallow with iridescent blue-green upperparts, white underparts, and a tail that is only slightly forked.
- •Identification: a bluish brown swallow with pale underparts, buff forehead, and a chestnut throat; tail is not forked..
- •Identification: a small, sparrow-sized swallow with a slightly forked tail, brown plumage, white underparts, and a brown breast band.
- •Identification: a small songbird with bright yellow underparts, olive green upperparts, and a black crown (“hood”) and throat in adult males and some females (see below).
- •Identification: a sparrow-sized bird with olive-brown plumage, distinctive white shoulder bars, and (in males) blue-gray crown.
- •Identification: a sparrow-sized bird with olive to orange-red plumage and a distinctive crossed bill..
- •Identification: a small (61/2 inch) bird with a thick, hooked bill, grayish brown plumage, and a darker facial mask (black in males)..
- •Identification: a tiny (41/2 inch) chickadee-like bird with a bright blue crown, black-and-white face, bluish green plumage, and yellow underparts.
- •Identification: a sparrow-sized bird with bright blue plumage, white underparts, and a chestnut throat and breast.
- •Identification: a grayish buff, sparrow-sized bird with a pale gray-white crown..
- •Identification: a drab, sparrowlike bird with brownish gray plumage and a black throat patch..
- •Identification: The familiar black-bibbed sparrow; Cowbird is iridescent black with a dark brown head..
- •Identification: Light gray plumage, black wings and tail, and (in some birds) bare yellow head and fleshy black wattles.
- •Identification: a small crow with black plumage and gray on the back of the head.
- •Identification: a large (2 foot), all-black bird similar to a crow but much bulkier..
- •Victoria’s riflebird
- •Identification: Adult males are black with an iridescent sheen and metallic crown, throat, and central tail feathers; females and younger males are drabber, with brown, buff, and off-white plumage.
- •Identification: a thrush-sized bird (12 inches) with velvety black plumage and brilliant golden yellow crown, nape, upper back, and wing feathers.
- •Identification: a pheasant-sized bird with brownish gray plumage, powerful legs and claws, and long, ornate tail feathers.
- •Identification: The largest living bird (over 6 feet tall), with striking black-and-white plumage in the male and powerful legs and claws.
- •Identification: The second-largest living bird (5—6 feet tall), with shaggy, brown plumage and bare patches of blue skin on the face and neck.
- •Identification: Similar to Ostrich but smaller (up to 41/2 feet tall) and with overall grayish brown plumage in both sexes.
- •Identification: a small penguin (approximately 2 feet tall) with a black band on its chest and patches of red skin at the base of its bill..
- •Identification: a large (3 foot tall) penguin with orange ear patches and a yellow-orange wash on the breast.
- •Identification: a medium-sized penguin (up to 21/2 feet) with a white patch above the eye.
- •Identification: a large vulture (wingspan up to 9 feet) with a white head and neck and brown plumage.
- •Insects
- •Introduction
Identification: a deer-sized mammal with distinctive, sharply forked horns in males and reddish brown fur with white patches.
Social Organization
Pronghorn society is characterized by a distinction between territorial males, who establish territories and mate with females, and nonterritorial males, who live primarily in bachelor herds of seven to ten individuals throughout the spring and into early fall. Females associate in groups of up to two dozen individuals, often accompanied by a territorial male. After the breeding season—during which males copulate with multiple partners and do not assist in parenting—most Pronghorns join large mixed-sex herds for the winter.
Description
Behavioral Expression: Male Pronghorns court and mount each other in their bachelor herds from April to October, using many of the same behavior patterns found in heterosexual courtship and mating. As a prelude to sexual behavior, one male follows another, sometimes sniffing his anal region. The courting male might then touch his chest to the other male’s rump, a signal that he wants to mount. Usually this leads to a full mount, in which the courting male rises on his hind legs and, with erect penis, slides up onto the other male from behind. Sometimes a whole string or “chain” of courting males forms as each follows and tries to mount the male in front of him. Males of all age groups participate in homosexual courtship and mounting, although adult males usually direct their attentions to adolescent males. Mounting between males sometimes occurs during sparring or play-fighting as well. Female Pronghorns also rump-sniff and mount each other when they are in heat, though less frequently than males.
Male Pronghorns shed their horns after the breeding season and some researchers have suggested that this allows them to “pass” as females in mixed-sex herds during the winter. Since males are usually physically exhausted after the rut, they make easier targets for predators than females: by engaging in a form of female mimicry or transvestism, they may avoid being singled out.
Frequency: Overall, about 7 percent of all courtship/sexual behavior is between animals of the same sex, and about 10 percent of all mounts are homosexual (roughly two-thirds of these are between males). Among animals of the same sex, approximately 3–4 percent of their interactions involve some sort of sexual behavior.
A male Pronghorn mounting another male
Orientation: Anywhere from two-thirds to three-quarters of the male population does not participate in breeding; many of these animals are exclusively homosexual. Two-year-old males, for example, never mount females, yet bachelors participate in nearly a third of all homosexual mounts. At the other end of the scale, territorial males are exclusively heterosexual. In between, various forms of bisexuality occur. About 7 percent of adult bachelor males are able to mate with females, yet they also account for 18 percent of homosexual interactions. Some males transfer from the bachelor herds to territorial status, thereby participating in sequential bisexuality over the course of their lives. Many males, however, never become territorial, and though they may try to court females, most of their sexual behavior will continue to be homosexual for the majority—if not the totality—of their lives.
Nonreproductive and Alternative Heterosexualities
As described above, the majority of the male population is not involved in procreation, living as they do in bachelor herds or as loners, and Pronghorn social life is characterized by sex segregation for six to seven months of the year. Some bachelors, however, do try to court females; although their advances are consistently rebuffed, the males often persist and may harass the females relentlessly by chasing them, horning and roaring at them, and sometimes even knocking them down during a chase. Reproduction in the Pronghorn is also characterized by aggression within the womb: procreation routinely involves embryos killing each other. As many as seven embryos may initially be present in the female’s uterus, but only two of these will survive. The remainder are killed by the other developing fetuses, which grow long projections out of their fetal membranes that fatally puncture the others and drag them out of the uterus back up into the female’s oviduct. Some embryos also die earlier because they get strangled in the ropelike bodies of the other embryos. The female reabsorbs any embryos that die.
KOB
IDENTIFICATION: A large grazing antelope with a reddish coat, white underparts, and black markings on the legs; males have lyre-shaped horns, while females are more slender.
WATERBUCK
IDENTIFICATION: A 4-foot-tall (shoulder height) antelope with long, straggly brown or grayish hair and a white rump; males have sickle-shaped, ridged horns.
LECHWE
IDENTIFICATION: Similar to Kob, but horns longer and thinner, and coat yellowish brown to black.
PUKU
IDENTIFICATION: Similar to Kob but with shorter horns.
Social Organization
Kob society is complex and is organized around two types of social systems: sex-segregated herds and LEKS. Outside of the breeding grounds, the antelopes congregate in same-sex herds: bachelor herds contain 400–600 males, while female herds usually have 30–50 adults (as well as young of both sexes), though they can contain as many as 1,000 antelopes. On the breeding grounds, the population is structured into a dozen or more small territories known as leks. These are small arenas that the males—and occasionally females—use for performing intricate courtship displays, and which they defend against the intrusion of other males. Females leave their herds to visit these leks, where they choose males to mate with and also interact sexually with other females. The other Kob antelopes also live in sex-segregated female and bachelor herds, although some Lechwe herds are cosexual. In addition, a few males—who do the most mating—are territorial, while some Waterbuck males are SATELLITES, associating with territorial males and occasionally mating with females.
Description
Behavioral Expression: Virtually all Kob females engage in some form of homosexual activity, ranging from simple sexual mounting of other females all the way up to elaborate courtship displays. These interactions usually take place when the females are in heat and may occur either in the female herds or on the leks. Homosexual courtship and sexual interactions consist of a rich array of stylized movements in a fixed sequence, which are all used in heterosexual courtship as well. Individual females vary in how many of these display behaviors they employ when courting another female—some use only one or two, while others employ the full repertoire. A female usually begins her homosexual courtship by PRANCING: she approaches another female with short, stiff-legged steps, her head held high and tail raised. This is followed by an action known as FLEHMEN or LIP-CURLING: she sniffs the vulva of the other female, who crouches and urinates while her partner places her nose in the stream of urine. While doing this, she retracts her upper lip in a curling gesture, exposing a special sexual scenting organ that allows her to sample the odor of the urine. Her courtship dance continues with a stylized gesture known as FORELEG KICKING: she raises her foreleg and gently touches the other female between her legs from behind. The other female responds with ritual MATING-CIRCLING, in which she circles tightly around the courting female, sometimes nipping or butting her hindquarters. This leads to mounting, in which the first female stands on her hind legs and climbs on top of the other from behind, as in heterosexual mating. Sometimes the mounting female gives a single vigorous pelvic thrust, similar to the thrusting that a male makes when he reaches orgasm.
Courtship and sexual activity between female Kob: “prancing” (above), “foreleg kicking” (middle), and mounting
Following homosexual mounting, female Kob may engage in “inguinal nuzzling” (left) and “pincers movement ” (right)
Homosexual copulation may be followed by a further display of stylized behaviors. The courting female, for example, might make a distinctive whistling sound by forcing air loudly through her nostrils with her mouth closed (also made by males in heterosexual courtship). The two females may also engage in what is known as INGUINAL NUZZLING: the female who was mounted adopts a special posture with her hind legs spread wide, tail raised, back arched, and her neck extended in a graceful swanlike position. The other Kob licks her partner’s vulva and udder from behind and then concentrates on nuzzling and licking two special “inguinal glands” located in the same region, which secrete a pungent, waxy substance. Finally, the interaction concludes with what is known as the PINCERS MOVEMENT, in which one female gently holds the other in a “pincers” position with her head on the other Kob’s back and her leg raised underneath her belly. Occasionally, a female Kob will herd other females and even defend her display territory against courting males by attacking the males head-on—no small feat, considering that she does not have the horns that most males use for such purposes. The majority of Kob that participate in homosexual mounting also become pregnant and raise young—and in all cases, this is done in the female-only herds, with little or no participation from males beyond insemination.
Female homosexual mounting also occurs in three other closely related species of antelopes, the Waterbuck, Lechwe, and Puku. Interestingly, Waterbuck females that mount each other are not usually in heat, unlike Kob. Occasionally, a Waterbuck female will perform courtship flehmen with another female as well. Hermaphrodite or intersexual individuals also sometimes occur in Kob: one animal, for example, was chromosomally male and had testes and large horns, combined with a vagina, uterus, and enlarged clitoris.
Frequency: Homosexual mounting is common among Kob. Each female participates in same-sex mounting about twice an hour (on average) during the mating season, and over an entire mating season a female might mount other females 60 or more times (although most females probably engage in this activity a dozen or so times). However, because heterosexual mounting rates are extraordinarily high—more than seven times higher than homosexual rates—same-sex mounting accounts for only about 9 percent of all sexual activity. Homosexual courtship displays are less common than same-sex mounting in this species. In Puku and Lechwe, mounting between females is also common, but it occurs only occasionally among Waterbuck.
Orientation: Most, if not all, female Kob are bisexual, participating in both heterosexual and homosexual mounting, but individuals vary along a continuum in their orientation. For some, same-sex mounting makes up nearly 60 percent of their sexual activity, while for others it constitutes only 1–3 percent, but the average is about 11 percent. Fewer Kob females use courtship displays with other females, but there is a parallel range in variation. About 7 percent of females employ a significant portion of the full courtship repertoire when interacting with other females. In the other species of Kob antelopes, females that engage in homosexual mounting probably also participate in heterosexual activities as well.
Nonreproductive and Alternative Heterosexualities
As described above, Kob society is sex-segregated, and there are large numbers of nonbreeding animals, particularly among males. Only a relatively small proportion of males (about 5 percent) have access to lek territories at one time, and only some of these will be selected by females to mate with. In some populations of Waterbuck, large numbers of males are also nonbreeders: at any given time, only 7 percent of males are territory holders, 9 percent are satellites, and the remainder live in bachelor herds. In fact, only 20 percent of males in this species become territorial during their lives. Although a few satellite and bachelor males mate with females, the majority do not. Female Kob usually mate repeatedly with their chosen males—generally many more times than is required to become pregnant—and may copulate with up to nine different males when they visit the lek. Waterbuck females also mate repeatedly when in heat, usually with the same male each time. Kob heterosexual copulations are often preceded by numerous nonreproductive mounts in which the male does not have an erection. Furthermore, full penetration may not occur during copulation, and often the male does not ejaculate even when he does achieve penetration. Waterbuck males sometimes mount females from the side or other positions where penetration cannot occur. When all types of mounts are considered, the rate of heterosexual activity in Kob is staggering: during a 24-hour visit to the lek, each female may engage in several hundred mountings, 40 of which will be full copulations. Female Lechwe are often chased and harassed by males (especially nonterritorial ones) trying to mate with them. Sometimes several males will disrupt a heterosexual copulation, and only 8 percent of matings in cosexual herds and 42 percent on leks result in ejaculation.
BLACKBUCK