You dancing? You asking?… All good relationships start with a bit of flirting, even in the
natural world
Mute swans entwine together to form heart-shapes with their graceful necks, jackdaws preen each other, and great crested grebes dance.
Typically, only faithful for a season (although there are exceptions to the rule, as there often are in the animal kingdom), the great crested grebe (pictured above) is intense when it comes to first impressions. Meeting a potential mate, the birds rise up to mirror each other’s moves, shaking their rust-coloured ruff as they bow their heads. The crescendo of their dance is a charge towards each other, waving water weed, before coming together to hold the same piece of weed in their beaks.
And the common crane is a real flirt. Harsh, honking calls float across the Nene Washes in Cambridgeshire as the UK’s tallest birds show off their courtship choreography. Their head bobbing, wing stretching, and jumping is contagious – when one pair start, others quickly join in, the flock turning into a flash mob of long legs, red crests and spilling tail feathers.
The extract above is taken from our feature ‘Love is All Around’ by Jeni Bell, from our February issue. Read more love stories from the animal kingdom from page 50.
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