Mating Social Behaviors

Lek Breeding

Males gather in display arenas where females visit to choose mates based on performance
19 Animals
Overview

Understanding This Category

Lek breeding is a mating system in which males gather at a communal display site (a lek) to perform courtship displays, while females visit primarily to choose a mate. Mating is typically highly skewed toward a few successful males, and males usually provide little or no parental care.

In lek breeding, males set up small display spots close together in a communal arena called a lek. They spend lots of energy showing off — visual displays, calls, dances — and may have ritual fights with neighbors. The lek gives little food or nests; it is a marketplace where females visit, choose mates, then leave to nest alone. A few males get most matings. Leks are often reused yearly and create strong pressure for showy males.

Key Characteristics

Males aggregate at a communal display ground (lek) rather than defending resources needed by females
Females visit the lek mainly to assess and choose among multiple displaying males
No pair bonds; mating interactions are brief and occur at or near the lek
Strong reproductive skew: a few males achieve most matings (often linked to dominance or central display sites)
Male parental care is absent or minimal; females typically handle nesting and rearing
Courtship display traits and male-male competition at the lek are central to mating success
Examples

Animal Examples

Iconic Examples

Greater sage-grouse Males gather on traditional leks and perform conspicuous courtship displays; females visit briefly to choose mates, and a few males get most matings.
Black grouse Classic lekking bird: males cluster on open moorland and display/compete while females choose among them.
Ruff Textbook example of extreme skew and complex lek behavior, with males displaying in arenas and females selecting mates.
Bird-of-paradise (e.g., Greater bird-of-paradise) Many species form display aggregations where males invest heavily in showy displays and females choose, with negligible male parental care.
Kakapo Well-known non-passerine example: males call and display from specific sites that function as leks; females choose mates and provide all care.

Surprising Examples

Uganda kob
Topi
Marine iguana

Found across: Birds (especially grouse, shorebirds like ruffs, manakins, and many birds-of-paradise), Mammals (notably some antelopes such as kob and topi; also occurs in a few other mammals in lek-like forms), Reptiles (rarer; lek-like aggregations reported in some lizards, including iguanas), Insects (common in some groups-e.g., certain flies and bees form male swarms/aggregations used by females for mate choice)

Fun Facts

Did You Know?

In many leks, most males get nothing: a tiny minority (often just a few "top" males) can win the vast majority of matings, making lekking one of the most unequal mating systems in nature.

A lek is basically a dating arena with no "perks": males typically don't provide food, territory resources, or parental care-females are choosing almost entirely on display quality (the "genes, not goods" setup).

Lek sites can become tradition-bound hotspots-used year after year and sometimes for decades-because both sexes keep returning to the same reliable social stage.

Location is power: males that secure central or high-traffic spots in the lek often get disproportionately more attention, so "real estate" can matter nearly as much as the display itself.

Lekking can turbocharge evolution: when female choice is intense and repeated, it can rapidly exaggerate ornaments, sounds, dances, and even subtle traits like timing, endurance, and symmetry.

Lek Breeding Animals