Do the male pandas in robust years gain an upper hand in court ?

In spring, in the valleys covered by snow, there always echoed the sound of pandas. It takes a woman researcher named Lv Zhi nearly four years to have an intimate relationship with the female panda Jiaojiao, which makes us know a lot of secrets of pandas.

They find that in heat period every spring, there are always several males to fight for the mating with the only one female in a regular place which is similar to the courting of birds.

There are always more males than females in the “courting field”, so the males should compete with each other, which also provides the chance for the female to choose her lover.

On April 10 in 1994, Jiaojiao came to the courting field. There was a male who wanted to mate with her, but she refused. Instead, she chose the old Dahuo (He was 18 at that time and died in next spring) to be her spouse and refused the other strong male. When they were mating with each other, Jiaojiao cooperated very well. When the other male came near her, she sent out threating sounds.

The researcher said that the genes of Jiaojiao and of the old male can be combined. From the experiences of the old male, we could say he had strong ability to live, so the child of Jiaojiao could also inherit the strong ability.

The researchers also found that the male pandas always took part in more than two competitions for a female. The males wanted to improve their reproductive rate by courting for more females, while females also wanted to improve their reproductive ability by giving birth to babies. Therefore, the mating of pandas is always more than once.

Conclusion: The old male pandas gain an upper hand in court.