Antelopes fool children into mating

Male topi often cheat females in a unique way to increase their chances of becoming a father during mating season.

Two topi antelopes in Africa.Photo: sheknows.com .

National Geographic said that Jakob Bro-Jorgensen - a Liverpool University scientist in the UK - and his colleagues followed antelopes in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve. The team found that, when a female antelope is about to leave her territory, the male will snort, staring in one direction and upside down her ears. Antelopes often exhibit such expressions when detecting predators. Therefore, when he saw the unusual behavior of the male, the female thought there were nearby predators and would not leave the man's territory anymore.

An interesting thing is that male topi antelopes only 'play tricks' on females who really need mating.

Bro-Jorgensen thinks that male antelope behavior helps them increase their chances of becoming a father during the short mating season. Each year the antelope points to the oestrus in exactly one day. On that important day they will mate with an average of 4 males.

Since the estrus time of the topi antelope is too short and the competition between males is fierce, keeping the 'females' in the territory for a few more minutes will help the 'guys' increase their chances of mating. , while eliminating the chance of other males.

Fooling is an integral part of the animal world. For example, some birds pretend to be injured when they want to lure predators away from their children. But most animals use tricks when faced with danger. Topi antelopes are one of the few species to play with.

Mike Rainy, an ecologist and guide in the Masai Mara reserve, has been studying topi antelopes for decades. He appreciated the discovery of Bro-Jorgensen's group because they knew the time and the way the male antelope performed the trick.

Rainy added that he also saw the same trick in many other antelopes - such as the African antelope or the gazelle. However, he did not know why they did that behavior.

According to Rainy, in general, antelope must perform many kinds of tricks to survive. In many cases, they will not give a warning signal if they see predators in the competition. When they see the wildebeest, males will pretend to be angry and chase them.

'Male antelopes never hurt the antelope. They just want to lure the mother or sister of those babies to their territory , "Rainy said.