Animal Courtship Behavior Activities for Valentine’s Day

Why not discuss animal courtship and how well it reflects human behavior? During this activity I focus on six main animal behaviors. I use my courtship matching cards and courtship reading passage as an introduction to the main concepts and to organize the students. We discuss dancing, vocalizing/singing, gift giving, home building, fancy dress and bonding.

What is Courtship?

Courtship is a behavior that is exhibited by both animals and humans to increase the probability of successful reproduction. This follows the standards of the NGSS MS – LS1-4.

In most cases, the male animal initiates the courting behavior and is usually competing with other males for the interest of the female. The female will assess which male she considers to be most fit to carry on the genetic information. By choosing the male that seems most physically fit, able to defend his territory and create a home, she ensures that the offspring will also be strong.

Introduce Animal Courtship to Students

Students learn best when they can relate to the topic at a personal level. We start with brainstorming how humans go about courting a future partner. I have found that, even in middle school, the word “courting” is not so familiar so I need to explain that it means “dating” and getting to know a future husband or wife.

I introduce the six heading cards with the dancing, singing/vocalization, homebuilding, gift giving, fancy dress and bonding. Students are put into groups, with their own set of cards, or I enlarge the headings and make a gallery walk. The heading cards have an image of the human equivalent of each of the behaviors. 

Using Videos to Teach Animal Behavior

Each of the six behaviors are then discussed in further detail by using the videos included in the sections below. I went through YouTube and found some great examples that represent each of the behaviors.
Students are absolutely fascinated by these videos and I have found that most of them were not aware of many of the behaviors! Gift giving between animals such as insects or spiders seems to blow their minds the most.

Play Matching Card Games to Learn the Concepts

After we have watched the videos, I then have the students use the matching pair cards to play various games to learn the behaviors.

A favorite is the game of “Concentration” (sometimes called Matching Pairs) where all of the image cards and headings are turned upside down on the table and students need to turn over two cards at a time. If they happen to turn over matching cards, they take those cards as their own. If they don’t match, they turned them back over again. As the game goes on, students try to memorize the location of the matching cards so when their turn comes they can pick up a pair.

I’ve had the students use the cards for a game of  “Go Fish” which takes a little more high level thinking as the students ask questions such as “give me any card that shows singing/vocalization”. There could be multiple answers for that. 

I once watched my students invent a game with image cards that I think is similar to “memory train”. One player lays down four or five random cards for a short time and then takes them away. The second player has to remember the order and sequence of those cards. Although it is not necessarily matching the headings to the images, it is still keeping the concepts fresh in their minds. Plus, it’s challenging!

Dancing as Part of Courtship

A wide variety of organisms from the animal kingdom do a form of a dance to attract the opposite sex. The birds tend to be the most creative and dramatic! Lizards will bob their heads, zebras and horses will run side by side, and fish and seahorses will do a courtship dance underwater. Here are some video examples. 

Vocalizing/Singing is Part of Animal Courtship

Birds are not the only animals that sing! There are many animals who have mating calls such as the elk, wolf, spring peeper frogs, bullfrogs, and even certain mice.  The call can mean many things such as searching for a potential mate or warning others males to stay out of their territory. Here is good video to show some animal vocalizing.

Gift Giving is Not Exclusive to Humans

Most of us would assume that gift giving is something exclusive to humans, but there are quite a few animals who utilize this courtship behavior! The Nursery Web spider kills an insect and wraps it in silk to offer it to the female. If she accepts it then they will mate. The male Kingfisher bird will catch a fresh fish and offer it to a potential mate. These nuptial gift help the female determine the fitness of a male, which in turn, ensures the fitness of her offspring. 

Home Building to Attract a Mate

There is nothing like a safe home to show that the male is stable and able to provide basic needs. Several species create a nest or a home in anticipation of finding a mate that will move in and become partners. Some are extremely elaborate, such as the Weaverbird. Some make quite simple homes, such as a penguin with several rocks arranged on the ground. The females will wander around the “neighborhood“ and choose the nicest home along with the male that built it. 

Fancy Dress is a Common Method to Attract a Partner

Many animals are very colorful, such as the beautiful plumage of some male birds or the dramatic colors of coral reef fish.

Not all colors are necessarily involved in courtship but most are. In terms of birds, it is almost always the male that has bright plumage to impress the female and warn off other males. The female tends to have more drab colors so that she can camouflage with her nest and not draw so much attention to herself or her offspring.

Some primates have coloring on their faces, such as the baboon, or on their hindquarters to attract a mate. Lizards, such as the Green Anole, have a flap of skin under their chin that they flash in the presence of a female to catch her attention.
These videos show the dramatic way some animals use their fancy dress during animal courtship!

colorful animals

Some Animals Bond for Life Like Humans

Not all animals mate for life, but some form strong, dependent relationships with each other. In the videos below, there are examples of animals who find each other earlier in life and stay together for years. They tend to the offspring together and defend their territory as a team.

Wolves, in a pack, also have a strong bond even though the dominant male may have several females. They all work together to raise the pups as a tight family unit. 

Here are some examples of these bonding relationships.

Conclusion

After reviewing the animal courtship behaviors, students should have a higher appreciation of the similarities between human and animal relationships. As a conclusion, you can pull together a discussion about how courtship helps increase the probability of reproductive success. I also like to bring in the concept of dimorphism, (see the bundle below) which are the male and female differences, and discuss the roles each gender plays in a relationship.