In this video we initially see a lioness copulating with a male lion. And then along comes the male lion’s dominant brother. We can see this because the dominant male attacks his subservient brother who behaves in a submissive way by rolling on his back.
In the meantime, the female who is in heat still seeks a mate as she rolls and writhes around while the two brothers are fighting it out. It’s a rather disturbing scene of a wanton female totally ignoring the stresses and strains encountered by a couple of males as they fight for mating rights with her.
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I think we should look at this video from the point of view of the female because it begs the question why lionesses copulate with more than one male. And the answer is as follows:
Protection and support: By mating with more than one male the female engenders multiple paternity. They therefore increase kinship relationships for their offspring. She strengthens social bonds with male coalition members which increases the likelihood of their support and protection for her and her cubs. Male lions form social groups called coalitions. They often consist of brothers or unrelated males who’ve joined forces. They help defend territories and protect the pride against intruders including other male lions.
Mating assurance: by allowing multiple males to mate her, the female increases the chances of successful fertilisation. She ensures that she has a higher chance of producing offspring and passing on her genes.
Infanticide prevention: you might have heard of this. Infanticide is strongly linked to lion prides when in lion society a new mail takes over a pride he often kills the cubs side by the previous male. When the female mates with multiple males she creates uncertainty about paternity which makes it less likely that the new male will commit infanticide. In other words, the incoming male who wants to commit infanticide won’t if he’s uncertain that the cubs are his.
Polyandry: Female lions engage in polyandry which in the human world means the marriage of a woman to two or more men at the same time. The extent of the polyandry varies among populations and individuals. It can depend on resource availability, the dynamics of the lion pride and “genetic relatedness”, which means how closely related the individuals are. Females instinctively do their best to ensure genetic diversity as it increases the survivability of their offspring.
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