{"id":12621,"date":"2024-02-14T12:43:38","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T12:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.golive.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/02\/14\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T09:26:26","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T13:26:26","slug":"flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/02\/14\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Flashy tails and sharp horns in the name of love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

How evolution impacts courtship in the animal kingdom<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/iframe><br \/>\n <br \/>\n A horned dung beetle collected by Professor Erin McCullough.\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">If love is a battlefield, evolution has given animals and insects the tools for competition. Peacocks boast flashy tails and birds sing to capture the attention of mates; meanwhile, elk and <a href=\"https:\/\/clarknow.clarku.edu\/2023\/09\/21\/sex-and-death-a-love-story\/\">dung beetles<\/a> use antlers and horns, respectively, to fight off other males during courtship.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">These traits, which can vary widely within the same species, have long fascinated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/academics\/undergraduate\/programs\/majors-minors\/biology\/\" aria-label=\"major in biology\">biology<\/a> Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/erin-mccullough\/\" aria-label=\"professor bio\">Erin McCullough<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Sexual selection, or competition over mates, is responsible for many of the biggest, flashiest, most colorful, and conspicuous traits that we find in the animal kingdom,” she says.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">What’s puzzling, however, is that these traits can make species more susceptible to predators, seemingly at odds with natural selection.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Reproduction is the currency that really matters,” says McCullough. “It doesn’t matter if an individual lives forever — or if it lives a whole lot longer than its peers — if it never succeeds in attracting a mate, because then it won’t leave any of its genes to the next generation.”<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Challenge. Change.<\/strong> is produced by Andrew Hart and Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4UuYAjq1d3Hq45cjwxoCNL\" aria-label=\"listen on spotify\">Spotify<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/challenge-change\/id1608025510\" aria-label=\"listen on Apple Podcasts\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.<\/p>\n<div class=\"is-layout-flex wp-container-7 wp-block-columns no-gap photo-row\">\n<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-column\" style=\"flex-basis: 50%\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_40320\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40320\" style=\"width: 420px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-40320 size-medium-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Dung-Beetle-Research-52-1-420x280-2.jpg\" alt=\"Evolutionary biologist Erin McCullough and student Syd Kochensparger ’25 examining samples collected at Clark's Hadwen Arboretum\" width=\"420\" height=\"280\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-40320\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Professor Erin McCullough (right) works in the lab with Syd Kochensparger ’25.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-column\" style=\"flex-basis: 50%\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_40330\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40330\" style=\"width: 420px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-40330 size-medium-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Dung-Beetle-Research-142-420x280-2.jpg\" alt=\"Close up samples of Onthophagus hecate, orpheus, and striatulus collected from Clark’s Hadwen Arboretum\" width=\"420\" height=\"280\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-40330\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Close up samples of Onthophagus hecate, orpheus, and striatulus collected from Clark’s Hadwen Arboretum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"csidebar center\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium-large wp-image-46916\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Hibbett-Fat-Moon-Farm-326x280-2.jpg\" alt=\"A close-up view of a yellow, trumpet shaped fungus\" width=\"326\" height=\"280\"><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Listen to more science<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/clarknow.clarku.edu\/2022\/12\/02\/mushroom-mania\/\">Mushrooms are Having a Moment: A Conversation with David Hibbett and Javier Tabima<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/clarknow.clarku.edu\/2023\/03\/15\/inspiring-the-mars-generation\/\">Cherry Trees, Liquid-Fueled Rockets, and Space Travel with Charles Slatkin ’74<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/clarknow.clarku.edu\/2023\/10\/18\/gpa-is-not-destiny\/\">Chanda Prescod-Weinstein and the Disordered Cosmos<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"is-layout-flex wp-container-7 wp-block-columns no-gap photo-row\">\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How evolution impacts courtship in the animal kingdom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12622,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"#525250","story_headerImg":12622,"section_label":"Challenge. Change. Podcast","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[227],"displayed_author":[237],"featured":[],"topic":[244,150,160,300,176,162,163],"class_list":["post-12621","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-technology","displayed_author-melissa-hanson","topic-biology","topic-faculty","topic-faculty-research","topic-major-in-biology","topic-podcast","topic-research","topic-sciences"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Flashy tails and sharp horns in the name of love | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/02\/14\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Flashy tails and sharp horns in the name of love\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How evolution impacts courtship in the animal kingdom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/02\/14\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ClarkU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-19T13:26:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023-Dung-Beetle-Research-11.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/14\\\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/14\\\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\\\/\",\"name\":\"Flashy tails and sharp horns in the name of love | ClarkU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/14\\\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/14\\\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/37\\\/2023-Dung-Beetle-Research-11.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-14T12:43:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-19T13:26:26+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/14\\\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/14\\\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/37\\\/2023-Dung-Beetle-Research-11.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/37\\\/2023-Dung-Beetle-Research-11.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"Erin McCullough, a behavioral ecologist who mostly studies sexual selection. "I\u2019m interested in how animals compete for mates. I just finished my first year at Clark, so my research is still very much in the development phase. I am currently trying to figure out the diversity of dung beetles around Massachusetts. To do this, my student (Syd Kochensparger) and I have been setting up \u201cpitfall traps\u201d in farms and forests. Dung beetles are important insects because they help degrade dung; they dig holes into the ground which aerates the soil; and they bury dung when they lay their eggs, which helps to bring nutrients down into the soil. Dung beetles are also interesting to study because, in many species, males have big horns that they use in fights with other males to mate with females. I am interested in developing a beetle colony at Clark to study their mating behaviors, but first I\u2019m interested in figuring out who\u2019s here. So far, I\u2019ve found four Onthophagus species in Massachusetts: Onthophagus taurus (which is native to the Mediterranean but was introduced in the 1960s), Onthophagus hecate, Onthophagus tuberculifrons, and Onthophagus orpheus."\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\\\/v2\\\/story\\\/12621#breadcrumbs\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":0,\"name\":\"ClarkU\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"ClarkU News\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Stories\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-json\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Stories\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Stories\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\\\/v2\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":5,\"name\":\"Stories\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\\\/v2\\\/story\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":6,\"name\":\"Stories\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\\\/v2\\\/story\\\/12621\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"ClarkU News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Flashy tails and sharp horns in the name of love | ClarkU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/02\/14\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Flashy tails and sharp horns in the name of love","og_description":"How evolution impacts courtship in the animal kingdom","og_url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/02\/14\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\/","og_site_name":"ClarkU News","article_modified_time":"2025-05-19T13:26:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":1000,"url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023-Dung-Beetle-Research-11.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/02\/14\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\/","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/02\/14\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\/","name":"Flashy tails and sharp horns in the name of love | ClarkU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/02\/14\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/02\/14\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023-Dung-Beetle-Research-11.jpg","datePublished":"2024-02-14T12:43:38+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-19T13:26:26+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/02\/14\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/02\/14\/flashy-tails-and-sharp-horns-in-the-name-of-love\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023-Dung-Beetle-Research-11.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023-Dung-Beetle-Research-11.jpg","width":1500,"height":1000,"caption":"Erin McCullough, a behavioral ecologist who mostly studies sexual selection. "I\u2019m interested in how animals compete for mates. I just finished my first year at Clark, so my research is still very much in the development phase. I am currently trying to figure out the diversity of dung beetles around Massachusetts. To do this, my student (Syd Kochensparger) and I have been setting up \u201cpitfall traps\u201d in farms and forests. Dung beetles are important insects because they help degrade dung; they dig holes into the ground which aerates the soil; and they bury dung when they lay their eggs, which helps to bring nutrients down into the soil. Dung beetles are also interesting to study because, in many species, males have big horns that they use in fights with other males to mate with females. I am interested in developing a beetle colony at Clark to study their mating behaviors, but first I\u2019m interested in figuring out who\u2019s here. So far, I\u2019ve found four Onthophagus species in Massachusetts: Onthophagus taurus (which is native to the Mediterranean but was introduced in the 1960s), Onthophagus hecate, Onthophagus tuberculifrons, and Onthophagus orpheus.""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/12621#breadcrumbs","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":0,"name":"ClarkU","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"ClarkU News","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stories","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Stories","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Stories","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"Stories","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":6,"name":"Stories","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/12621"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/","name":"ClarkU News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"fimg_url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023-Dung-Beetle-Research-11-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/12621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/story"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/12621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20769,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/12621\/revisions\/20769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12621"},{"taxonomy":"displayed_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/displayed_author?post=12621"},{"taxonomy":"featured","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured?post=12621"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=12621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}