Tokens of love come in different style and flair as Homo sapiens vie for the Mr./Miss Right. Humans are not the only animals that give gifts. In the animal kingdom, courtship rituals take the form of nuptial gift-giving for the male to find their perfect match during mating season.
Birds: Gift of Gourmet Prey
Treating a female to a feast is a popular courtship ritual among male birds. Take the Great Grey Shrike's (Lanius excubitor) peculiar larder provisioning as an example. The male advertises his hunting prowess by displaying prey, such as insects or small animals, impaled on thorns or twigs. The bigger the skewer of kills, the greater the chance of the male mating.
"Courtship feeding", where food is offered to the partner as a gift, is another common strategy for birds to secure mates. In the case of the Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), a male ties the knot with courtship feeding of insects or small fish upon winning the heart of a female, which helps establish and strengthen their pair bond.
Insects: Gifts of Marriage
Many male insects consummate their marriage with a spermatophore – a sperm package containing sperm and various nutritional secretions – delivered to enhance female fecundity and egg production on the nuptial bed. Fireflies are one of the insects that offer spermatophores, providing nutrients to the female during mating, which greatly aids in the development of her eggs and reproduction of offspring.
Mantises, such as the Chinese Mantis (Tenodera sinensis), are radical among insects, offering themselves as nuptial gifts. When a male finds his soulmate, he may sacrifice himself as nourishment for the development of her eggs. Male mantises go the whole hog to father offspring!
Spiders: Gifts of Deception
In nuptial gift-giving species, some spiders are cheats. A male Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis) wrap fresh insect meat in silk to create a "gift package" for females. Mating ensues when the female unspools the present and enjoys the meal. The longer it takes for the female to unwrap and finish the meal, the more time the male has for mating.
Deadbeat Nursery Web Spiders fool the female with dummy gifts of insect exoskeletons from leftover of their meals, plant bits, or nothing wrapped inside in exchange for sex. By the time the female spiders discover the scam and terminate mating, it is already too late.
Penguins, Pufferfish and Bowerbirds: Gifts of Home
The male Homo sapiens may gift a partner "bricks" – home ownership. Pebbles are the Gentoo Penguin's (Pygoscelis papua) equivalent of engagement rings. These birds in the wet and cold Antarctic region build nests with pebbles, so the eggs and chicks can stay dry and survive. The male knows a good pebble when he sees it and present it to the potential partner as concrete proof of being a good builder
Pound-foolish Bowerbirds (Pygoscelis papua) are the opposite of the pebble-wise penguins. Male Bowerbirds built alluring bowers with twigs and decorate them with colourful objects of shells, berries, flowers and stones. Even bits and pieces found in our litter, like plastic fragments, coins, or shards of glass, are put to good use as ornaments. The completed bower serves as a grand theatre where the male performs its courtship dance. Proposing is hard work!
But the master builder must be the White-spotted Pufferfish (Torquigener albomaculosus), which lives in the waters of Okinawa, Japan, and present exquisite mandala nest gift to brides! They build two-metre-wide circular sand castles on the seabed, featuring radiating mounds and valleys. This unique structure directs water flow, and funnel fine sand toward the centre to form a nest. How could any females resist the palatial masterpiece decked with shells?
