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  • Male greater prairie chickens gather to dance at dawn on a booming ground at the Conservancy’s Bluestem Prairie Preserve.
  • Male greater prairie chickens fan their tails, drop their wings and inflate throat pouches during their dance.
  • Male greater prairie chickens compete for hens and often squabble when dancing on a booming ground.
  • Garter snakes mate in tangled groups soon after they emerge from their hibernating places in the spring.
  • Adult bald eagles are skilled flyers and perform aerial displays as part of their courtship.
  • Adult cecropia moths live only long enough to mate; the males use their large antennae to find females.
  • Because cecropia moths live only briefly, they spend most of their lives as caterpillars that can become large.
  • Fireflies are actually beetles that can blink a light organ to attract mates.
  • Even the larvae and pupae of some fireflies can glow, as these do at the end of their bodies.
  • Bluegill sunfish spawn in groups, where the males must guard their nests and chase away competitors.
  • Bull elk bugle for mates in the fall during the rut.
  • Bull elk compete for mates during the rut by sparring with their antlers.
Minnesota
Love in the Wild