Males have either orange, blue, or yellow throats and each type follows a fixed, heritable mating strategy. Orange-throated males are strongest and do not form strong pair bonds; instead, they fight blue-throated males for their females. Yellow-throated males, however, manage to snatch females away from them for mating. The large size and aggression is caused by high testosterone production. Blue-throated males are middle-sized and form strong pair bonds. While they are outcompeted by orange-throated males, they can defend against yellow-throated ones. Because blue-throated males produce less testosterone they are not as large as the orange-throated males, but it gives them the advantage of being less aggressive and able to form strong pair bonds. Yellow-throated males are smallest, and their coloration mimics females. This lets them approach females near orange-throated males and mate when the males are distracted. This is less likely to work with a female that has bonded with a blue-throated male.This can be summarized as "orange beats blue, blue beats yellow, and yellow beats orange", which is similar to the rules of rock-paper-scissors.
Are you the Alpha Orange-throated Side-blotched Lizard, the Beta Blue-throated Side-blotched Lizard, or the Sigma Femboy Yellow-throated Side-blotched Lizard?
https://www.nps.gov/chis/learn/nature/side-blotched-lizard.htm
- 6
- 21
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Please do not post here.
Snapshots:
https://www.nps.gov/chis/learn/nature/side-blotched-lizard.htm:
ghostarchive.org
archive.org
archive.ph (click to archive)
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context