Searching for a Sexual Partner and Courtship Behaviour in Animals

Searching for a sexual partner and courtship behavior in animals refers to the series of instinctive and species-specific actions that animals perform to locate and attract a mate for reproduction.

The identification of sexual partner involves the various senses like olfactory, optic, auditory and tactile senses. The male animals will search its partner by seeking and identifying the Estrual signs of the female animals.

Secretions from the female reproductive tract serve as sexual attractants and sexually stimulate and attract the male to female.

Pheromone is a volatile substance secreted or released outside the body and is perceived by the olfactory system of other individuals of the same species.

Males also produce sex pheromones that attract and stimulate females. For example, boars produce two primary attractants—one from the prenuptial pouch and another in the saliva secreted by the submaxillary salivary glands.

The active components of the saliva are 3α-androstenol and 5α-androstenone, both of which have a characteristic musky odor that plays a crucial role in stimulating female reproductive behavior.

The presence of the male will stimulate the females to intensify its sexual responses.

The searching behaviours in are as follows:

Courtship or Sexual Display

The identification of the sexual partner leads to the initiation of courtship behaviour with sniffing of the vulva by the male, urination in the presence of male, flehmen reflex, chin resting, circling and increased phonation.

The common courtship behaviours in different species are as follows:

Some pheromones are less volatile and need to be detected by the vomeronasal organ in the bull, ram, stallion and to some extent, the boar.

The vomeronasal organ is an accessory olfactory organ and is connected to two small openings in the anterior roof of the mouth just behind the upper lip. Many species such as the bull, ram and bucks smell the genetalia as well as the urine and exhibit the flehmen response which is characterized by elevation of head and curling of the upper lip.

Curling of the upper lip closes the nostrils and allows a suckling response to occur in the nasopalatine duct.

Less volatile substances are aspirated into the nasopalatine organ, where they are evaluated by sensory neurons. Like males, females also exhibit the Flehmen response to the placenta, newborn animals, and volatile substances. The Flehmen reflex is observed in all animals except swine.

Behavioral Definitions

• Nuzzling – To rub or push against with the nose
• Sniffing – The act of smelling
• Grooming – The act of cleaning
• Crouching – Bending the knees and bringing the body forward and downward