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A mating system is a way in which a group is structured in relation to sexual behaviour. The precise meaning depends upon the context. With respect to animals, the term describes which males and females mate under which circumstances.
For animals, mating strategies include random mating, disassortative mating, assortative mating, or a mating pool. In some birds, it includes behaviors such as nest -building and feeding offspring. The human practice of mating and artificially inseminating domesticated animals is part of animal husbandry .
Polygynandry is a mating system in which both males and females have multiple mating partners during a breeding season. [1] In sexually reproducing diploid animals, different mating strategies are employed by males and females, because the cost of gamete production is lower for males than it is for females. [2]
Many animal species have specific mating (or breeding) periods e.g. (seasonal breeding) so that offspring are born or hatch at an optimal time. In marine species with limited mobility and external fertilisation like corals , sea urchins and clams , the timing of the common spawning is the only externally visible form of sexual behaviour.
In a mating system, the limiting sex (usually females) is the one that the limited sex (usually males) tries to monopolize. [6] The combination of resource distribution, parental care, and female breeding synchrony determines what mating strategies the limited sex will employ.
(Mating Systems, p 275) In polyandrous mating it has been suggested that male cooperation may outweigh the costs of sharing paternity in situations of scarcity, of foods and of high competition levels for land or females. Female size and a large breeding territory defended by more males may force male cooperation.
A lek is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals, known as lekking, to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners with which to mate. [1] It can also refer to a space used by displaying males to defend their own share of territory for the breeding season.
The articles in this category are primarily about mating in animals, ... Mating systems (5 C, 24 P) S. Sexual acts (17 C, ... Breeding in the wild; A.