I didn't know that wolves did! Learn something new every day.
Gibbons also usually tend to mate for life, as well as Gorillas. The Shingleback skink, a lizard from Australia, has been studied and the same pair of lizards end up together year after year during mating season and then go their own way until the next mating season when they hook up again.
Whooping cranes mate for life with the typical pair staying together 10 to 15 years.
Oh, I just found an interesting article: Q: Which animals mate for life? (Jen, New York, New York) A: Gibbon apes, wolves, termites, coyotes, barn owls, beavers, bald eagles, golden eagles, condors, swans, brolga cranes, French angel fish, sandhill cranes, pigeons, prions (a seabird), red-tailed hawks, anglerfish, ospreys, prairie voles (a rodent), and black vultures — these are a few of the creatures that mate for life.
USAtoday ****************************************************** 06-28-05, 10:45 AM Fritzzs Lots of birds do... Eagles ( theres a pair that have a nest across the street from my home that have been raising eaglets for 7 or 8 years that I know of..
Swans also... If one of the mates dies for any reason, the surviver will also die of " a broken heart"
These are just two that comes to mind .....
06-28-05, 01:19 PM FredPuli Not only do wolves mate for life but only the chief male and chief female in the pack mate at all. The rest of the pack remain celibate.
This is a principle which , applied to villages around Newmarket or to certain inner city housing estates, could be beneficial Big Grin
06-28-05, 02:55 PM Professor "I think people should mate for life, like pigeons or Catholics." -- Woody Allen [from Manhattan] Smile
06-28-05, 03:34 PM frankvan Well I did, Catholic female, atheist male, improbable duo? Wink
06-28-05, 06:14 PM jusork My anthropology book states that, along with gibbons, "many smaller species of New World monkeys, a few island-dwelling populations of leaf-eating Old World monkeys, and" siamangs are monogamous.
It doesn't mention any apes that are though and states in gorillas that "the dominant silverback has exclusive breeding rights with" more than one female.
06-28-05, 08:34 PM DorianGreyed I think I just pulled a muscle in my neck trying to see what color the hair on my back is. Man, that hurts.
06-29-05, 08:34 AM Georgia85 DG....hairy back??? Thanks for the visual. I'm bringing over my hot wax! 07-06-05, 04:31 PM Falcon For birds:
ALL raptors and birds of prey will mate for life. However, only Harris hawks and species from the raven, crow, grakle, and magpie family stay together all year round. Others will leave each other during the migration period and meet back at their mating grounds the next year. Both take care of the eyasses as they grow. If something were to happen to a mate the other will either find another or go on without one, usually there is no replacement because these birds are unusually mournfull of a mate's death.
I'm not too familiar with songbird and perchbird mating habbits, but from the ones I've seen tend to also stay as mates for life, though I'd have doubts with pidgeons and doves.
Softbills are strictly one mate bound. They will have one mate and stay with them for life. If one were to pass away it will not search for another, and often dismiss themselves from others from the group. Toucans in particular have been known to starve themselves after the death of a mate.
At the refuge we have a zone-tailed hawk (rare for this area) who came in with a broken wing and distorted left talon. When we got him in he refused to eat or move. He literally seemed to have lost the will to live, and not from being at the refuge; the body of a female zone-tailed was found in the area two days before. We pinned the wing and leg and let him go as he wanted for a couple days before we decided to force feed him. Today, his leg is healed but his wing has recieved extensive damage to the tendon at the wrist. He is eating well now, but he still always seems so depressed. Some people don't realise how much birds really feel until they see what loss does to them.
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Posts: 9192 | Location: Atlanta, GA, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
