Nature is replete with examples of males giving females gifts in order to compete for the transmission of their genes to the next generation.
By Dr. Dafna Haim-Langford
Many studies indicate that gifts in the animal kingdom are a fairly common phenomenon, where most gifts are given as part of courtship rituals for the purpose of mating. The gifts, mostly edible and sometimes shocking to human eyes, are given by the male to the female with the goal that the female will be impressed by the gift and choose the male as a partner. It may be an old and cheap trick, but it turns out that even after billions of years of evolution it still works...
A gray warbler (songbird) for example, will not be content with serenading his lover, but will impale prey on sharp branches and present it to the female. The female will choose the male that presented the most impressive and high-quality "skewers" as a father to her offspring.
The fruit fly (the famous Drosophila), will not settle for less than the male's entrails before agreeing to get into bed with him. The male will raise the contents of his stomach as an offering to the female, more than once, before it is time to mate with him.
Most spiders feed on dead prey. They even wrap the gift in webs so that the female experiences the excitement of opening the gift. Some of the spiders even perfume the wrapper so that the whole gift becomes one that is hard to refuse...
With fireflies, on the other hand, size does matter...after they get an impressive show of sparkles, they are fertilized by the male that provided the largest spermatophore (bride gift). A spermatophore is a capsule that contains many sperm cells and proteins, and with the firefly, the richer the spermatophore in proteins, the greater the chance that it will fertilize the female. In vertebrates such as the salamander, the female will select the spermatophore of the male that displayed the most impressive courtship display.
The moth enlarges to make, and its bridal gift includes cyanide, which is an extremely deadly poison. The cyanide does not kill the female, but is a significant deterrent against predators. The female transfers some of the cyanide to the eggs and thus protects them.
"Take a wife and build her a house..." Out of all the above list it is extremely difficult to compete with souks, Australian songbirds. The male builds a magnificent sukkah, literally a honeymoon suite, and presents it to the female. The opening of the sukkah is magnificent and attracts the eye with different designs using feathers, shells and other design elements. The female will choose the male who built the most beautiful suite.
Research on chimpanzees giving gifts over time during the courtship period reveals to us what we already know. Giving a one-time gift is not always enough, but on the other hand, continuous giving of gifts may make the recipient a little spoiled and raise the bar of expectations.
