Post #14890

Fox weddings: How do red-haired cheats cheat even during the mating season? The cunning of foxes is not only widely known - it is legendary. Cheats easily evade pursuit, are excellent at confusing their tracks, and know a huge variety of ways to obtain food. They mouse, steal bird eggs, ambush hare trails, and even destroy muskrat huts to get to sleepy and resting homeowners. But in the spring, when the breeding season begins, the chanterelles become simply devilishly inventive. Like any good adventure, this one begins with a lot of preparation. Immediately before the start of the mating season - in January, February or March, depending on the region of residence - the female finds or digs several burrows in her territory. After all, she understands perfectly well that a girl with her own living space is a much more desirable prize than an ordinary homeless cheat. The female then places many scent marks along the boundaries of her territory and screams loudly to attract as many males as possible. And they are really attracted. Moreover, males are not fools either and leave their marks next to the marks of females - to show that the place has already been taken, and you’d better go home, baby. This really works on young males weakened by disease: they often retreat, not daring to participate in the competition for the paw and heart. Those males who decide to take a risk descend to the lowest type of mating games - to a banal fight among themselves. They will bite and scratch until the strongest male drives everyone else away and is left alone with the lady. However, the losers will still have a chance to prove themselves... Of course, the female will accept the courtship of the winner. And she will even give him a corner in her burrow so that they can temporarily become a full-fledged family and can raise from 2 to 6 puppies. He will also call several homeless subordinate foxes who do not have their own territory and live with the owner of the allotment. These homeless maids are often the mistress’s children from a previous marriage and help their parents raise their offspring. And the fox will carefully ensure that they do not have children of their own - she does not need competitors. Sometimes it even comes to killing their offspring... But the male still plays the main role in raising children. He has a very pronounced paternal instinct, so he is selflessly devoted to his children and his manipulative wife. But she doesn’t tell him. If the male disappears for too long, the fox declares him dead and begins to look for a replacement from among its neighbors. And she finds it quickly, especially if she hasn’t given birth yet. Since foxes have not yet invented pregnancy tests and do not know how to count, they easily mistake other people's offspring for their children. And then, if the male does return home, he sees how his beautiful daughter-in-law is happy with another... Needless to say, such behavior is, to put it mildly,