Small Animals make Big Journeys to Build Families on WITF TV

• Khamelia Henderson
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Small animals must sometimes make epic journeys to find a mate. In Madagascar, a chameleon the size of a matchstick embarks on a journey through high trees and ground floors to find the perfect mate and create a biological legacy. To find its perfect match, a water vole in the Scottish Highlands swims across a lake, climbs a waterfall, and scales a mountain.

Have you ever wondered how chameleons court one another? One intriguing aspect of their mating ritual is male chameleons changing their color to attract female mates. They display bright and vibrant colors and some species can color-change rapidly or “ripple” to communicate their health, strength, and reproductivity to female on-lookers. Males will also hiss, grunt, chirp, and whistle to get a female’s attention and to communicate their availability. Mating rituals can get violent with males fighting for access to females and to the victor goes the spoils.

The water vole produces around 2 to 8 young during a three month breeding season (usually mid-June to  late-August). While the young mature quickly, females born early in the mating season tend to reproduce by the end of the season. Water voles live in multi-generational habitats where family units consist of an adult generation and about two generations of young.

Tune in to find out if these courageous little animals survive their journeys and fulfill the ultimate gift of building a family during season 42, episode 8, ‘Big Little Journeys: Bloodlines,’ at 8.

Watch Nature Wednesday, January 24 at 8pm on WITF TV or the PBS or WITF App. Livestream it for free or stream it on demand with WITF Passport.