Mating Behaviour

Abstract

Many animals, particularly species living in the sea, ensure the fertilization of the egg cells in such a simple way that we can scarcely speak of mating behaviour. Oysters for instance simply eject their sperm cells in huge numbers at a certain time of the year; for a while each individual is enveloped in a cloud of sperm cells. The egg cells, it seems, cannot avoid being fertilized. Yet even here an important sort of behaviour is involved: fertilization would not succeed if the various oyster individuals did not produce their sperm cells and their eggs at the same time. A certain synchronization therefore is necessary. As I hope to show, this applies equally to land animals.