Berislav Horvatic wrote:Jeroen Speybroeck wrote:But why wouldn't venomous snakes bite each other? Wouldn't that be a very easy way to get rid
of competitors? Or would they both bite each other and it all ends in misery?
The idea of a male-to-male combat is to prove higher fitness without the risk of getting killed or
maimed. If lethal veapons were "allowed", even the fittest male in a population would be dead
after a few fights. Nobody wants that, so they don't do it.
So you don't know of any example in the animal world where 1 of the competitors looses (or can loose) his life in the battle?