Sleazy Antelopes Scamming Extra Sex Through Deceptive Practices

Meet the topi antelope, a denizen of sub-Saharan Africa. Topi of both genders are known to “warn” predators away from attacking them by delivering a loud snort, but apparently the male of the species has figured out that there is a benefit to the occasional snort even when no predator is present. The benefit? More hot bovid lovin’!

Each mature female is usually only sexually receptive for one day every year some time during the month-and-a-half-long mating season. On the day of ovulation, on average these females visit 10 male territories and have sex 11 times.

The researchers found that when a female who is in heat gets ready to leave a male’s territory, the male often makes a false alarm call while looking intently where the female is headed at an imaginary predator in the distance. Rather than risking any danger ahead, the female typically lingers a while longer, giving the male more chances at sex.

Behavioral ecologist Jakob Bro-Jørgensen, who observed the behavior, theorizes that female topi put up with the blatant falsehood because “failing to react to a true alarm could easily mean death in a place like the Masai Mara, where it’s literally crawling with large predators,” which is just another way of saying that in the Animal Kingdom it is better to be fucked than be eaten.