The answers to the age-old question, “What do women want?” just might be found in the animal kingdom. Scientists use unorthodox techniques and the latest technology to probe the mysteries of attraction. What makes a male gelada a good catch? What can a “fembot” tell us about the sage grouse’s mating behavior? Discover how females are shaping the future of their species by choosing the best mates. Buy this DVD. This film premiered April 5, 2008. What Males Will Do

Female jumping spiders will attack and eat anything that moves. This often includes males who may be courting them. So, if a male falls short in convincing a female that he will be a good mate, he may become lunch. This is a compelling reason for males to work hard in perfecting their courtship dances.

In the mating game, it is not always “do or die,” but the penalties can be severe, and there is no single tried and true approach when it comes to the fascinating strategy of attracting a mate. Charles Darwin called it “sexual selection.” NATURE is calling it What Females Want and Males Will Do for love — a two-part miniseries about sexual selection.

What Females Want and Males Will Do explores the evolution of sexual strategies and what makes certain species winners and losers in the mating game. Courtship drives evolution by controlling whose genes are passed on to the next generation, and intense competition gives rise to a wide array of dazzling displays and impressive ornamentation.

From spiders that dance and monkeys that drum in the name of love, to female geladas that seek male partners with hot, red chest patches — this program about sexual selection explores the unique behaviors and special adaptations that determine how animals pick their mates, and how these selections affect future generations. In some species, the normal rules of mating are turned on their head, such as the feisty female topi antelope champing at the bit to have sex with an aloof male or bonobo males practicing free love.

Scientists around the world are making amazing new discoveries about the complex nature of courtship and competition throughout the animal kingdom. It’s sexual education that takes us way beyond the “birds and the bees.”

Part One: What Females Want — In the animal world females often call the shots. But their decisions may be surprising. In an effort to understand the mating game, NATURE follows biologist Chadden Hunter, PhD, through the Simien Mountains of northern Ethiopia, as he observes a troop of geladas, close cousins of baboons. He found that in gelada society females make all the decisions about mating, even though males are twice their size. The males are evaluated on everything from body heat to baby sitting skills. And once selected, no male gelada can ever rest on his laurels. Another male is always auditioning for his job.

You’ll also see female barn swallows that choose a male by the color of his chest and encounter a robotic sage grouse that is helping researchers learn about this species’ elaborate courtship displays.

To order a copy of What Females Want and Males Will Do, please visit the NATURE Shop.

Online content for What Females Want was originally posted April 2008.

© Phil Savoie/Nature Picture Library

SEXUAL SELECTION: DRESS TO IMPRESS

There are close to forty species of birds of paradise in New Guinea and no two look alike. The Red bird of paradise (Paradisaea rubra) is deep crimson with yellow highlights and has a pair of long wiry quills sprouting from its tail. The Goldie’s bird of paradise (Paradisaea decora) has a yellow and dark green body and large, fluffed crimson plumes on its back. The Ribbon-tailed Astrapia (Astrapia mayeri) is covered in metallic blues and greens with a “streamer” tail that extends over three times the length of its body.

The spectacular plumage that has come to typify the Paradisaeidae family is generally reserved for only the males in the species. Females sport a far more conservative look of lackluster grays and browns.

Females may be drab but we have them to thank for the males’ saturated colors, fuzzy feathers, and streamer tails. Females choose mates based on the condition and color of the males’ plumage. Bright and flashy coloring signals that the male is healthy and will produce healthy offspring. Males puff their feathers, vibrate and buzz – whatever it takes to show off their more colorful assets to a potential mate. Females will choose the most impressive and attractive males based on their displays. Over time, genes associated with these aesthetically pleasing features are passed down and the attributes become more prominent within the species. This process is known as sexual selection. Natural selection is usually about competition for resources, but sexual selection is about competition for mates. On an island with abundant resources and few predators, females are the number one decider in how males evolve.

Sexual dimorphism, strong physical distinctions between the sexes, is not found in all birds of paradise. All five birds in the Manucodia genus are monomorphic, with almost no plumage variation between the sexes. These species are also monogamous. One possible explanation for this is related to diet. Species where males and females share coloring tend to feed on less nutritious simple fruits like figs. Males must work with females to forage and successfully raise young, leaving no time for outside courtships. This isn’t an issue for species that eat a diverse and reliable diet of fruits and insects. Females are able to raise hatchlings alone, freeing up the male to court other females with his magnificent and much-needed plumage.

SEXUAL SELECTION: DANCE DANCE EVOLUTION

They hop, swing, strut, shake and buzz, and even transform their bodies into strange, geometrical abstractions. Although the types of movements vary between species, nearly all male birds of paradise use movement to woo potential mates.

Carola Parotia (Parotia carolae), Superb bird of paradise (Lophorina superba), and Blue bird of paradise (Paradisaea rudolphi) all have wildly different displays they perform for their female counterparts. During the Carola Parotia dance, males lift their flank feathers to form a tutu-like skirt and hop and waggle across the forest floor. Superb bird of paradise snap their breast shield and back plumes into a complete physical transformation, creating an ellipse of blue and black feathers around their head. Resembling nothing like a bird, they hop around the females, rhythmically snapping their tail feathers as they go. Blue bird of paradise hang upside down from the branches, pulsating with their blue and violet feathers spread out like a fan. During the show, Blue bird of paradise produce a low, soft buzzing sound.

Similar to their plumage, these dance moves evolved over time, based on the subtle tastes of the females in the species. If females mate exclusively with males that perform specific types of movements, eventually that display performance will become commonplace.

Recent scientific research examines these mating displays and what they can tell us about the evolutionary process. According to ornithologist Edwin Scholes III, these complex courtship performances can be broken down into a series of smaller, individual movements. These building blocks of motion are combined to form a single choreographed piece. By simply reorganizing and modifying these steps, males can create novel performances. Scholes argues that modularity can enhance and speed up the evolutionary process by allowing new behaviors to develop quickly through the reorganization of already existing parts. If females prefer those new organizations, then those displays will eventually become increasingly standard within the species.

Modularity can help chart the evolution of the Paradisaeidae family. If we understand how these dances are related to each other, we can identify which bird of paradise species are more closely related. As lineages become clearer, we can gain new insights into how sexual selection of both behavioral and physical traits function and evolve within the family.

For males in the animal kingdom, the main goal is to pass on their genes to the next generation. But it takes two to tango, and males will go to extremes to win a mate. They will make music, change body colors, develop astonishing anatomy, even agree to be eaten alive… all in the name of love! From dancing spiders to drumming monkeys, discover what males will do to show they have what it takes! Buy the DVD. This film premiered April 12, 2008. What Females Want

Female jumping spiders will attack and eat anything that moves. This often includes males who may be courting them. So, if a male falls short in convincing a female that he will be a good mate, he may become lunch. This is a compelling reason for males to work hard in perfecting their courtship dances.

In the mating game, it is not always “do or die,” but the penalties can be severe, and there is no single tried and true approach when it comes to the fascinating strategy of attracting a mate. Charles Darwin called it “sexual selection.” NATURE is calling it What Females Want and Males Will Do for love — a two-part miniseries about sexual selection.

What Females Want and Males Will Do explores the evolution of sexual strategies and what makes certain species winners and losers in the mating game. Courtship drives evolution by controlling whose genes are passed on to the next generation, and intense competition gives rise to a wide array of dazzling displays and impressive ornamentation.

From spiders that dance and monkeys that drum in the name of love, to female geladas that seek male partners with hot, red chest patches — this program about sexual selection explores the unique behaviors and special adaptations that determine how animals pick their mates, and how these selections affect future generations. In some species, the normal rules of mating are turned on their head, such as the feisty female topi antelope champing at the bit to have sex with an aloof male or bonobo males practicing free love.

Scientists around the world are making amazing new discoveries about the complex nature of courtship and competition throughout the animal kingdom. It’s sexual education that takes us way beyond the “birds and the bees.”

Part Two: What Males Will Do — Apparently, there is nothing a male will not do for the right to mate with a female — dance, sing, fight, change body colors, illuminate, even agree to be eaten alive. There is often a surplus of males, and they are instinctively driven to compete in order to pass their genes to the next generation. But it takes two to tango. Now, scientists are learning to what extremes males will go in order to find that dance partner.

To order a copy of What Females Want and Males Will Do, please visit the NATURE Shop.

Online content for What Males Will Do was originally posted April 2008.