in triad (male-male-female) groupings of flies, (and most likely anytime multiple males encounter one female) males compete for successful copulation with the female. They will shove and lunge at other males in order to get to optimal position behind female. The aggressive behaviors are balanced with courtship behaviors and seamlessly transition between each other.
In Sten.etal2023, there doesnt seem to be any metric of “giving up” or deciding that it might be better to find another target. Once males are in courtship state it seems hard to get out of that state… is this just a confound of the experimental setup? In real world, would one male just leave?