-Hi, apologies if this has been asked elsewhere, but I figured one of you experts might know the answer to this question, which was prompted in my mind when I was watching alpine newts courting in an aquarium tank. One male swam up to a female, as if to start his dance, but having sniffed her cloaca, he immediately swam away to find another female. So my question is whether alpine newts / newts in general can smell if a female has already been inseminated by an earlier male and if they will then avoid wasting time displaying to her. Does anyone know what percentage of eggs laid are fertilized by subsequent males after the first mating of the season?
Thanks
Will