Territorial Battle while establishing 2nd colony

[Thomabear]

This is year one of placing new housing at our camp in MS. My wife and I have been hopeful, watching a single ASY male working extremely hard to attract a female for the last week or so. The female would show up a couple times a day but never slept over. Today, two SY males showed up and a territorial battle soon ensued. The older ASY male we had been watching, in a heart-breaking battle was defeated by one of the SY males. The battle was initially leaning toward the ASY male but as he became winded his advantage faded, giving victory to the younger male. The battle was extremely long (about 15 minutes) with the ASY male commanding the first 3/4 of the battle. As soon as that was over the 2nd SY male took advantage and attacked the now tired 1st SY male and in a matter of a couple minutes, he defeated the 1st SY male. I have noticed the original ASY male is still hanging around so maybe he will have another go at it, not sure. It's very vicious, and I would have never witnessed this without the cameras. I almost feel like I need to turn them off until mother nature has completed her will. Here's a couple of videos of both battles. Viewer discretion advised!

[Muffen02]

Oh my! That was hard to watch. I didn’t know that they fought like that. It looked like they were trying to kill each other.

[Jones4381]

Great video. Thanks for sharing that cage match...

I had 2 female BB's go at it like that last week. Lasted a good 10 min on the ground with the male hopping around and getting a bite in here or there. Nature is very neat to observe and reveals alot about us....the good, the bad, and the primordial nature to procreate for survival.

[Thomabear]

Yes, mother nature in the animal kingdom can be violent at times. It's survival of the strongest to carry forward the species with absolutely no regard for age, injuries, or weaknesses. They will capitalize on any advantage to win their mate. The ones dominating today, will someday be on the receiving end tomorrow. It's sometimes hard to watch, but necessary within the balance of nature.

[Martintown33]

Yes thomabear, that was a rough fight! Definitely hard to watch, but as you said , it’s mother natures way of strengthening the species, overall..
Good luck with the new colony
Rob

[brent]

Wow! Now I know what the noise is all about. So many times walking under the houses I could hear the fighting but never thought it was as fierce as that. I had to thicken the wing entrapment prevention at the entrances last year because the fighting often resulted in wing entrapment and now I can see why. Thanks for sharing. Brent

[C.C.Martins]

Good gosh! Yeah, sometimes its hard to witness but the species will continue.

[Thomas Maddox]

Crazy, but amazing. I'm glad to see that they are fierce fighters. Hopefully, they use that on the HOSPS!