Valentine's Day: The wild side of loving

[Donna]

St Valentine's Day: Even the most devoted animals indulge in a spot of hanky panky, says Angela Wintle.



The feast of St Valentine is upon us once more. The airwaves are full of Barry White, while Sweet Lips, preparing for tomorrow's Festival of Love, has almost certainly inscribed that tasteful A4-sized padded red heart card with promises of undying devotion to Snooky Pie.

Hopefully, this protestation of commitment will foreshadow a lifelong and mutually faithful bond, 'til death do them part. Sadly, the odds seem stacked against this.

In these days of "just-in-case" pre-nups, spiralling divorce rates and a growth in multi-partner singletons, we British are considerably less monogamous than we once were – a situation that would have enraged that irascible Victorian Anglican cleric and noted ornithologist the Rev Francis Orpen Morris, who urged his Yorkshire parishioners to look to the dunnock, a small hedge sparrow, as a model of fidelity to one's mate.

Alas, another disappointment would have awaited the vicar if he had been around long enough to study recent advances in genetic testing, which show that several species once praised for their monogamy are, in fact, enjoying copious amounts on the sly.

And these include the dunnock – especially the female, who zoologists have found to be particularly promiscuous. So
it would have been quite fortunate therefore, if the vicar's congregation weren't paying attention.

We humans seem to have a soft spot for species that are monogamous. When Warner Brothers promoted their film Free Willy, they made a point of saying that not only were whales majestic and gentle, but they mated for life, too. Greenpeace scientists have confirmed this.

If this is so, then whales are among comparatively few species able to maintain lifelong partnerships.

"The more research that goes on, the less monogamous wildlife seems to be," says naturalist Mike Russell, head of People and Wildlife at the Sussex Wildlife Trust. "It may just mean that a pair which have successfully mated, seek each other out the next year as they will want to mate with a partner they know has a good chance of breeding again successfully.

"The purpose of monogamy is that it provides a better chance of rearing young if there is proven success with a pair. It takes all the effort out of territorial and breeding displays."

Of course, it depends whether you're talking about social or sexual monogamy.

More than 90 per cent of birds are thought to be in socially monogamous relationships in which a male and female share a territory together and form pair bonds that may last a lifetime. These include swans, geese, hawks, parrots, albatrosses, pigeons, doves, puffins, ravens, barn owls and magpies.

Mammals don't match up as well: studies suggest that only about three per cent of the 4,000 species are socially monogamous, including gibbon apes, otters, wolves, prairie voles, beavers, bats, marmoset monkeys, lions, baboons, some species of seals, foxes and African antelopes.

So far so good, but then sex rears its ugly head and the picture gets murky – even among the apparently faithful bird kingdom.

Sexual monogamy, it seems, is extremely rare in the animal world, where the great majority of even happily partnered, socially monogamous species indulge in extra hanky-panky on the side.

Naturalists now estimate at least 30 per cent of the baby birds born in any nest have been fathered by a passing philandering male.

So view those bluebirds, devotedly billing and cooing on a million Valentine cards, with a cynical eye. They are said to have a sex life that rivals a television soap opera.

Mammals rarely stay sexually faithful and most species are no more monogamous than humans. With 90 per cent believed to be unfaithful, even the most seemingly devoted mates will play away given the chance.

There are a few exceptions: the tiny California field mouse never breeds with another mate at any time in its life. Meanwhile, the tiny male anglerfish takes commitment to the extreme by scenting out his chosen mate, biting her and then hanging on until his skin fuses to his partner so that their bodies grow together.

Mike Russell believes all this frenzied sexual activity is entirely understandable as creatures – of both sexes – inevitably follow their natural biological urges. "In all species, the overwhelming desire is to find a mate and successfully produce young. It has always been thought that males were more likely to philander because of the need to pass on genes, but DNA research has shown that females philander as well."

There is, however, a dissenting voice of disapproval in the form of a black vulture which has its own method of discouraging infidelity. If a philandering vulture is spotted in the act, all nearby vultures attack the bounder.

Happy Valentine's Day.