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10 February 2025
Main image: Snow leopards Zhuoma (front) and Dawa behind. © Luo Xiaoyun
When we look to nature, love looks a little more raw than the exchange of chocolates and flowers; it’s demonstrated through devotion, social connection, sacrifice, survival – and a little bit of showing off.
To mark Valentine’s Day, the wildlife experts at WWF have highlighted a few of the many ways some of the world’s iconic species show their love.
Like bouncing balls of cotton, black and white with blush pink bellies, Long-tailed tits behave just as sweetly as they look. Small and social, their very survival depends on their connections.
Unlike some of their feathered friends, long-tailed tits are not fleeting lovers. In winter, these birds flock together in groups of about 20, keeping one another warm during the long, chilly nights. But it is around Valentine’s Day, in the month of February, that they start to disperse with their one mate and remain with them throughout the breeding season.
There follows a subtle and sweet courtship; you can see them darting through hedgerows in pretty pairs, gathering moss, tiny white down feathers, lichen and spider silk to craft their nests.
It can take these mini birds up to three weeks to construct their complex dome-shaped nests. A female long-tailed tit will likely be sitting on a clutch of around six to eight eggs from late March or April, and both parents play a critical role in feeding and watching over their brood.
But while they are committed partners, long-tailed tits also live by the notion ‘it takes a village’. In this bird’s world, raising the young is not the sole responsibility of the parents; other relatives swoop in to assist with the feeding and protection of chicks.
WWF conservation photographer Luo Xiaoyun witnessed the brief but intense love affairs of snow leopards high in the mountains of Shiqu County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, where a snow leopard mother named Zhuoma lives.
Luo has been observing and photographing the growth and dispersion of Zhuoma’s family dynasty since 2020, the female having successfully raised nine cubs into adulthood. In a recent encounter, Luo describes the courtship of two snow leopards, Zhouma and a persistent male, Dawa.
‘They [Zouma and Dawa] spent five days together. During this time, they were inseparable, much like human couples in the throes of passion, sharing every moment together without eating or showing any interest in the nearby blue sheep.
‘They mated several times a day, each session lasting about 15 seconds. The mating process was entirely dominated by the female. When Zhuoma stood and arched her back towards Dawa, he would then mount her, gently biting her neck. At the climax of mating, Dawa would open his mouth and roar, after which Zhuoma would leap away, the separation appearing painful and seemingly unpleasant for her.
‘About three months later, Zhuoma gave birth to her third litter – twin snow leopard cubs.’
With names that translate to ‘Brave’ and ‘Lightning’, the electric stares between these two jaguars seem unsurprising.
Monitoring teams from WWF Peru have recently released an image of Gishkopi (meaning ‘Brave’) and Ksuru (meaning ‘Lightning’), locked in a tense gaze.
Typically solitary animals, the male and female cats have recently been spotted roaming the woods, sharing in moments of companionship.
For the jaguar, courtship can last a week – but mating of Gishkipi and Ksuru hasn’t yet been confirmed or captured on the team’s camera traps.
Lured in by her unique scent, which she leaves on surrounding territory, male jaguars will often travel vast distances to mate with females.
The process of pairing up is also a very vocal one; jaguars engage in a series of growls, roars and nasal snuffling to communicate both desire and dominance.
After an intense build up, the pair will proceed to mate up to 100 times a day. WWF Peru is keeping a close eye to see if Gishkopi and Ksuru cubs could be on the way.
Forget the floral bouquets and chocolates – male Amazon river dolphins will seek out natural elements, such as a stick, rock or even a live turtle, to parade in front of their desired mate.
Also known as ‘botos’, Amazon or pink river dolphins put on a playful display ahead of breeding. Born a blueish grey, the dolphins develop a pink colouring as they age, the males sporting a more vibrant hue than the females.
The more blushing the male, the more dominant he appears; brighter skin colouration is often a result of scar tissue inflammation and increased blood flow following physical stress or injury. It is also when excited that this pink tone intensifies – a love-toned beacon of attraction for females.
But it doesn’t end there. The river dolphins will amp up their efforts by twirling in circles, picking up twigs and weeds in their beaks and smashing these objects against the surface in a showy display to attract females.
It is typically after the rainy season, when the water recedes and the river stills, that the magic happens – males and females are swept up together in the shrinking tide.
Love is a dangerous entanglement for a male spider.
For some common species, such as many orb-weaver spiders, courtship begins with delicate taps on the web of the desired female – signalling he is not prey, for now.
He will approach cautiously, often using synchronised movements, bobbing, swaying and vibrating his body against the web when advancing toward her. He may also use his forearms to tweak what’s known as ‘mating threads’ to coax her.
Even if the female spider, who is considerably larger than the male, is receptive to his mating ‘dance’, he may not survive following fertilisation. In an act of cannibalism, she will often eat the father of her future children – which we believe could provide nutritional benefits for their offspring.
The female will store the fertilised eggs in an elaborate silk sack, which can contain anywhere between several dozen to hundreds of unhatched spiderlings.
Despite the brutality shown in mating, the female is devoted to the survival of her eggs.
Depending on where she senses it’s safest, she may deposit the egg sac on a stalk or attach it to a stone.
If environmental risks are high, the mother may clutch the sac in her jaws or ‘spinnerets’ (the silk spinning organ) and move her babies to a safer location where she’ll stay close by.
For the male orb-weaver spider, death may follow desire – but future of the species depends on it.
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