The Animal Kingdom’s 8 Most Impressive Dancers (3 of 5)

Great Crested Grebes Engage in a Series of Rituals Together

The Great Crested Grebe performs a courtship ritual that just might be the most elaborate in the avian world. For most birds, singing is their go-to “talent” when searching for a mating partner. But grebes take it up a notch by performing a series of tests to demonstrate they’d make a good co-parenting team once their chick is born. It begins with mirrored head-shaking displays, which are done using precise symmetry. They then proceed to do a dance that involves plunging into the ocean and collecting seaweed. To finish things off, they rush towards each other, raising their chests out of the water while engaging in frantic paddling to keep their posture straight, and then presenting the vegetation.

The Seahorse Ballet

In most of the animal kingdom, the female is responsible for carrying the child until birth. However, seahorses are an exception, as it is the males who become pregnant. But before the female deposits her eggs into the male’s abdominal pouch, which he then fertilizes, they must do a slow, delicate ballet show. They link their tails and spin upward through the water column, taking care to synchronize each other’s movements. Everything has to be timed just right so that the female is able to transfer her eggs into the opening of the male’s pouch.