1. Sexual Mating Adaptations
What makes an organism more desirable?

2. Example: Hippopotamus
When a Hippo has a young one to care for, they will become increasingly aggressive. They will also fight to mate with a female.

3. Station 1 Orchids
Like many other flowers, the bee orchid reproduces through pollination. Specifically, it relies on attracting bees for pollination. Bees come to the orchid where pollen sticks to them, which is then transferred to the next flower resulting in pollination.

4. Station 2: Elks
When a male elk is ready to mate, it lets out a loud noise that can be heard for miles. This is known as the elk “bugling”. Female elks hear this noise and are attracted to the male elk to mate.

5. Station 3: Yellow Woodsorrel
The yellow woodsorrel’s seeds open explosively when disturbed and can disperse seeds up to 4 meters (about 13 feet) away.

6. Station 4: Ruffled Grouse
In spring, when a male ruffed grouse is ready to mate, it sits atop a fallen log and beats its wings very loudly forming a drumming noise. Female ruffed grouses see these actions and are attracted to the males to mate.

7. Station 5: Flies
For flies to reproduce, the male fly has to fertilize the female fly. This results in the female fly laying up to hundreds of fertilized eggs at a time. Those white shapes are the eggs.

8. Station 6: Maple Tree Seeds
Maple tree seeds disperse to new growing locations by flight. When green and immature it falls straight down. When dry and mature and ready to germinate, it becomes a perfect helicopter.

9. Station 7: Praying Mantis
When mating, the praying mantis has an unusual strategy which favors the most successful way they reproduce. The female eats the male’s head to provide nutrition to the eggs that are forming inside the female mantis.

10. Station 8: Peacock
When the male is trying to attract a female, he will open up his feathers and vibrate his tail. The female will select her mate based on who has the most impressive tail, so the male really wants his tail to stand out during the dance.

11. Station 9: Sage Grouse
In the wild, the Sage Grouse looks for the healthy male within the pool of males to assure the best chance of producing healthy offspring.