The elaborate activities animals follow before mating are called courtship. Without this strict ritual they would not mate, and life would disappear from the earth. In this absorbing account Millicent Selsam shows why a knowledge of animal courtship is essential to the study of natural science. Flaunting, feather displays, rubbing, and aggressiveness by male animals are some of the forms it takes, and this behavior is as necessary to animals as their feeding habits.

Most fascinating, for instance, are the antics of the satin bowerbirds, which favour blue-coloured objects. They will decorate their shelters with them, attracting females, and will even steal from one another’s bowers. Mammals, reptiles, fish, birds, insects—all species recognize their own by their individual courtship rituals. Thus mating is accomplished and the wonderful thing we call life continues.

From the dust jacket