The Mating Game

The strategies used by animals to find and defend their mates in the grasslands of Namibia, the Serengeti and Australia. Here, mating strategies are on show for all to see.

The ocean is where life first experimented with the mating game, and over time this has led to some of the most ingenious mating strategies of all.

Jungles are home to 80% of all species but they cover just 2% of the planet. When animals in these crowded forests want to mate, the challenge is how to stand out from the crowd.

Freshwater is often the stage on which millions of animals gather to find a mate. And the cycle of freshwater is the trigger for spectacular mating rituals and fierce competition.

All life is driven by the need to breed. Yet for a few, the odds of success are overwhelmingly against them, so these have adopted the most extraordinary mating strategies of all.