COURTSHIP IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM <i> by Mark Jerome Walters (Doubleday: $8.95) </i>

In this study of reproductive strategies, Mark Walters tells how and why “birds do it, bees do it and even educated fleas do it.” Because rearing young requires an enormous expenditure of energy, animals have evolved various ways of achieving maximum efficiency in courtship and mating. Cranes form marital bonds that may last a lifetime, while several males may fertilize the eggs of a single grunion. Walters offers straightforward explanations of behavior patterns that may seem mysterious. Female chimps often shun more aggressive fighters for a gentler mates who will aid in child rearing; a male praying mantis may get his head bitten off during courtship, but if this occurs, his headless body can impregnate the female by itself (an evolutionary development paralleled in the denizens of some singles bars). A highly entertaining book, as informative as it is well-written.