Nuptial gift (animal behavior)

Nuptial gifts are food items or inedible tokens that are transferred to females by males during courtship or copulation. Inedible tokens may include items such as a fragment of leaf or twig, a seed tuft, or a silk balloon. In many species of animals, including birds, insects, and spiders, this takes the form of a food item that is transferred from a male to a female just prior to copulation. This is a behaviour known as courtship feeding. In some species of insects such as katydids, the nuptial gift is packaged with the sperm of the male. The package is an edible spermatophore. These extra nutrients in the sperm are assimilated by the female and are thought to enhance the fitness of the offspring produced, thus increasing the probability that a male passes on its genes. Nuptial gifts may therefore be classified into oral and seminal gifts. Nuptial gifts may also be tokens that do not have any direct value as food but may serve as an indicator of male fitness.

Nuptial gifts are common in insects and other invertebrates, such as butterflies, fruit flies and katydids. They are less common in spiders, though the spider species Pisaura mirabilis is known for nuptial gift giving. However, this may in part be due to an experimental bias due to the ease of rearing it for experiments. Other taxa may commonly exhibit gift-giving behavior. Thus, more research is required to evaluate the scope of nuptial gifts in arachnid taxa. In many species of insects, birds and mammals, males acquire and donate food to females either before, during, or after copulation (termed mate provisioning, courtship feeding, nuptial gift giving, or meat-for-sex). Males may relinquish body parts, produce glandular secretions, or share prey or other food to gain fitness benefits via natural and sexual selection.

Courtship feeding is particularly common among many bird species.

The male great grey shrike, a raptor-like passerine bird, gives prey (rodents, birds, lizards, or large insects) to females immediately before copulation. Shrikes are well known for impaling prey on thorns and sharp sprigs. Great grey shrike females select a mate according to the size of prey impaled, with larders thus serving as an extended phenotype of a male. If the amount of food stored by the males can drive female mate choice, food provided by males before copulation may also influence the female's decision to copulate. This applies both to the male's own partner and to other females.

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