Intruding Yellow vs Orange: "There's no action."

The most intriguing display that males make, which is restricted to yellow-throated males, is an imitation of the female rejection display. This rejection display is characteristic of post-receptive females and consists of a series of rapid head vibrations which are so fast that I used 1/2 times Slow Motion to capture it for you. The male then extends his yellow throat, assumes a humped back, and comes in and nips the dominant male on the tail. The parallel between the yellow male pictured here and an actual rejection by a bonafide female below is extraordinary. Note how the rapid buzz of the head is very distinct from the usual male head bob which is displayed by the male who was bitten. Near the end of the video, the "rejected" male gives the usual pushup pattern consisting of a small up, down, up, down, followed by a large UP, DOWN that is typical for males.


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