mating season

zoology
Also known as: rutting season

Learn about this topic in these articles:

fallow deer

  • fallow deer
    In fallow deer

    The rutting buck waves its antlers conspicuously toward the female that it follows in courtship, and it vocalizes loudly with each dip of the antlers. The buck’s conspicuous Adam’s apple slides up and down the throat with each bark. Rutting bucks form small breeding territories on…

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herd behaviour

  • reticulated giraffe
    In artiodactyl: Social behaviour

    During the rutting (mating) season males associate with females in heat but do not gather harems. The female herds of red deer (Cervus elephas) are separate from the males except in the breeding season, when the stag will defend his female herd against other males. Among cattle…

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moose

  • bull moose
    In moose

    …and the bulls are in rut by the first week of September. Rutting bulls search widely for females, but the bulls may also attract females with the smell of their urine. They paw rutting pits with their forelegs, urinate into them, and splash the urine-soaked muck onto their hairy bells.…

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sika

  • Japanese sika
    In sika

    Males form territories during the mating season in September and October and advertise their position and social status with shrill rutting calls. Although more primitive than the closely related red deer and elk, sikas are quite similar in social behaviour to the elk. Males of both species advertise vocally during…

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white-tailed deer

  • male white-tailed deer
    In white-tailed deer

    During the mating season in November and December, much of the courtship is carried on at a run; many males try to keep up with the speedy female. Mating is quick and unceremonious. The buck guards and mates with the female for a day before searching for…

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