Polygynous sexual behaviour is the system in which a single male mates with multiple females, but each female mates with only one male. This usually entails fierce competition between the males during the breeding season. Females invest more heavily in their offspring and all the parental duties fall to the mother. They become much more choosy about their mate as a result, while the males attempt to have as many mates as possible in order to leave a maximum number of offspring. However many males fail to win or impress a female and remain unmated their entire lives.
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Capercaillie calling
Male capercaillies gather at dusk in their forest display grounds.
Dangerous dancing feet
Peacocks use some fancy steps to attract mates and see off snakes.
Capercaillie
Pheasant
Temminck's tragopan
Ostrich
Kakapo
Kea
King bird of paradise
Raggiana bird of paradise
Six-wired bird of paradise
Superb bird of paradise
Superb lyrebird
Wire-tailed manakin
Common blossom bat
Antarctic fur seal
Black bear
Brown fur seal
Galápagos fur seal
Grey seal
Leopard seal
Lion
Polar bear
Polecat
Puma
Red fox
Sea otter
South American coati
Southern Elephant Seal
Southern sea lion
Striped Skunk
Weddell seal
African buffalo
Bactrian camel
Giraffe
Guanaco
Markhor
Mongolian gazelle
Musk ox
Nubian ibex
Red deer
Reindeer
Walia ibex
Plateau pika
Brush-tailed rock wallaby
Eastern grey kangaroo
Red kangaroo
Platypus
Black Rhinoceros
Bornean orangutan
Eastern Gorilla
François' langur
Gelada baboon
Verreaux's sifaka
Western gorilla
African bush elephant
Brants's whistling rat
Capybara
Red squirrel
Common bottlenose dolphin
Humpback whale
Killer whale
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