Beyond mating, animals use various physical cues to maintain their "storylines" and social ties:
What’s your favorite animal courtship ritual? Drop it in the comments—I’m personally partial to the seahorse daily greeting dance.
In the wild, pair bonding is often for life.
. They form a "pair bond," live together, and raise young as a team, but they might still have "extra-pair copulations" (essentially, a wild night out) with others.
are the only species besides humans known to exhibit exclusive same-sex orientation in some individuals . Writing Animal Romantic Storylines
Mechanism : Because animals cannot return favors or offer social status, treatment of them reveals intrinsic morality. A romantic lead who is cruel to an animal is irredeemable; one who is kind (especially without an audience) is marriageable.
