These birds are one of the rare animals that hide to mate

Besides humans, few species hide sexual activity. Arabian babblers are one such species; keeping mating private may preserve the peace.

BY JOSHUA RAPP LEARN

PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 20, 2018

DESPITE THEIR NAME, Arabian babblers never kiss and tell.

In an act often thought unique to humans, these birds go out of their way to hide from other birds during their (admittedly brief) sexual encounters, according to new research.

“The dominant male and female take so much effort to conceal their communication and the mating itself,” says Yitzchak Ben-Mocha, a graduate student at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and the lead author of a study published recently in Evolution and Human Behavior. “They sneak away, copulate, and come back.”

While many species of animals occasionally conceal their sexual antics, such acts usually involve subordinate or “beta” males, who have good reason to hide their trysts from more dominant and aggressive alpha males. But Ben-Mocha says Arabian babblers are the only species other than humans in which scientists have documented dominant males and females habitually conducting their affairs in private.

Ben-Mocha believes that social living is a key reason why the babblers hide their most explicit acts. Arabian babblers are cooperative breeders, meaning that while only the dominant, or “alpha,” male and female in the group typically breed, the rest of the social group pitches in with chick care by helping with feeding, defending territory, and scaring off potential predators.

Sex out in the open may bring conflict to the groups, especially if beta males try to get involved in the action. And among babblers, fights between males usually mean the eviction of the losing side. In other words, discretion may help to whitewash awkward social exchanges and maintain cooperation.

Continued