Reproduction
The fierce sexual competition between males is due to an unbalanced sex ratio. A female attracts males by moving her tongue around to initiate mating. If the male does not respond, she moves on to another mate. The average gestation period is 190 days. The infant will stay with the mother for 18–24 months. After males reach sexual maturity, they are expelled from their natal group. The male must then invade a foreign group. There, the male kills off the other leader and whatever offspring the first leader sired. By doing this, the male is killing any possible competition. Less than 25% of offspring survive male invasions.
Read more about this topic: Venezuelan Red Howler
Famous quotes containing the word reproduction:
“It is so characteristic, that just when the mechanics of reproduction are so vastly improved, there are fewer and fewer people who know how the music should be played.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
“An original is a creation
motivated by desire.
Any reproduction of an original
is motivated by necessity ...
It is marvelous that we are
the only species that creates
gratuitous forms.
To create is divine, to reproduce
is human.”
—Man Ray (1890–1976)
“As the twentieth century ends, commerce and culture are coming closer together. The distinction between life and art has been eroded by fifty years of enhanced communications, ever-improving reproduction technologies and increasing wealth.”
—Stephen Bayley (b. 1951)