Mark Fletcher

Nature: Love in the Animal Kingdom

Animals dance, sing, flirt, and compete with everything they’ve got to find and secure a mate. For many, the all-important bonds they share as a couple are what enable the next generation to survive. But can we call these bonds love? In this delightful, provocative look at the love life of animals, we see the feminine wiles of a young gorilla, the search for Mr. Right among a thousand flamingos, the open “marriages” of blue-footed boobies, the soap opera arrangements of gibbons, and all the subtle, outrageous, romantic antics that go into finding a partner. These are love stories all right, as various and intriguing as the lovers themselves.

The Mating Game

David Attenborough narrates the charming and fascinating story of some real-life animal romantics. There are show-offs and singers, dancers and fighters, stories of undercover affairs and heartwarming devotion. These include a male polar bear that plays hard to get, a lemur whose odour bags him a mate and a lizard who is tender and faithful to the very end. It reveals that animals can be loving, complex, funny and inventive - it is all part of the mating game.