Lizards Play Rock-Paper-Scissors

The "rock-paper-scissors" competition of mating strategies known among side-blotched lizards in North America has also been found in the European common lizard (Lacerta vivipara). From the Eurekalert:

"A quick look at their undersides reveals the strategy: males who sport orange bellies are brutes who invade other lizards' territories to mate with any female they can catch. But while they're gone, drab yellow-bellied males slink onto the vacant territory and mate with unguarded females. White-bellied males guard their mates closely, and cooperate with other white-bellied lizards to keep the yellows at bay. Hence the analogy to rock-paper-scissors: force (orange) defeats cooperation (white), cooperation defeats deception (yellow), and deception defeats force." ...

"The cycle goes like this: one color type--orange, for example--is common in a patch of habitat for a year or two. During that time, the orange bullies spend their time attacking white-bellied lizards on nearby territories. The effort leaves females on their own territories unguarded, allowing yellow-bellied lizards to sneak in and sire offspring. So yellow males become prevalent for the next year or two. After that, white-bellied lizards proliferate as they team up to protect their mates from yellows' intrusions. But once the white-bellied males become numerous, they're easy pickings for the remaining orange-bellied males, who regain superior numbers as the cycle starts again."