The mating game really bugs me sometimes, which is probably why I found this Animal Planet article so amusing: Fake Love Tokens Fool Flies (via Fark).
Females among many insects and animals, including humans, enjoy receiving gifts during courtship, but a new study on flies reveals that males can woo their intendeds with worthless, fake love tokens, even if such cheating is otherwise undocumented for the species.
By the time the female fly realizes her lover is a cheapskate and beats him off with her wings, the male already has mated with her and leaves with his faux present to find another partner.
Not that I would be one to condone or applaud such behavior (even from an insect), but one has to admit that some of these flies are surprisingly ingenious.
Heydon added that some flies even present their mates with empty packages wrapped up with layers of silk.
He said, “By the time the female finishes unwrapping her gift and discovers that it is empty, the male has mated with her.”
lol So males have the same thoughts regardless of whether they’re flies or humans, huh?
I suppose there wouldn’t be a market for cubic zirconium otherwise. ;-)
It is kind of funny how certain aspects of human behavior are not that far advanced from the simplest of organisms.