Birds choose mates with same 'market value'October 8th, 2009 LONDON - Birds prefer to choose a mate who appears to be as attractive as themselves and has the same "market value", reveals a new study. In the research, boffins found that female zebra finches never tried to play out of their league and happened to choose low-quality males rather than their superior competitors.
Male giant pandas' sex calls reveal size, females' ageSeptember 15th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Giant Pandas make bleat calls to attract potential mates, finds a new study. The study led by Dr.
Female gorillas use sex as a tactic to thwart their rivalsSeptember 2nd, 2009 LONDON - A new study has shown that female gorillas use sex as a tactic to thwart their rivals. Diane Doran-Sheehy, a primatologist at Stony Brook University in New York, has found that pregnant apes court their silverback male to stop other females conceiving.
Female fruit flies prefer keeping sex short to get a reproductive boostAugust 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has shown that female fruit flies prefer keeping sex short and sweet because they get a reproductive boost from shorter intercourse. Since males like sex to last longer, a fight ensues.
How 'kinky' flying foxes maintain their 'harem' of choosy femalesAugust 20th, 2009 LONDON - A team of German scientists has found the secret of sexual success for flying foxes. They found that males with relatively high levels of testosterone in their blood are better able to maintain their 'harem' of choosy females.
Why male and female lemurs are of same sizeJuly 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Rice University biologist Amy Dunham has put forward a new theory for one of primatology's long-standing mysteries-why are male and female lemurs the same size?
In most primate species, males have evolved to be much larger than females, but this has not been found to be true in case of lemurs. Some theories have suggested that environment played a role or that lemur social development was altered due to the extinction of predatory birds.
Smart males ration sperm to maximise offspringJuly 10th, 2009 LONDON - Attractive males release fewer sperm per mating to maximise their chances of producing offspring across a range of females, according to a new study. The findings by researchers at UCL (University College London) and the University of Oxford suggest that, paradoxically, mating with attractive males may be less fertile than those with unattractive ones.
Male sea-horses prefer bigger femalesJuly 8th, 2009 LONDON - Male sea-horses prefer bigger females for sex and for bigger offspring, a recent study has revealed. This finding is consistent with predictions on the importance of female body size for reproduction in this species.
How small 'guys' can get the 'gals' just as their bigger counterpartsJune 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In the world of yellow dung flies, the small guys can also get the girl, but only if they are hanging out on apple pomace instead of cow dung, reveals a new study. While the large, brawny males almost always have an upper hand in getting a mate, but this is the first time that alternative male reproductive strategies have been observed in this species.
Baboon mums 'exploit' chaperonesJune 17th, 2009 LONDON - A new study has shown that male and female baboons form platonic friendships. But while the females clearly benefit, it is a mystery what males get from such relationships.
Female pandas can discern the love calls of different suitorsJune 17th, 2009 LONDON - An American researcher has shown that female giant pandas can tell one male's love calls from those of others, taking the first step towards proving that females among the animals use these bleats to choose their mates. Ben Charlton, a biologist at Zoo Atlanta, says that this finding attains significance as a gaining a better understanding of how females pick their mates might help zoos breed the notoriously picky and endangered animals.
Males who serenade females get more sexJune 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Females of an Asian species of water strider keep their genitalia hidden to avoid any forceful copulation attempts, and expose them only after males produce a courtship "song" by tapping the water surface, according to a study. The study by Chang Seok Han and Piotr Jablonski at Seoul National University, Korea, found that females evolve a morphological shield to protect their genitalia from an approaching male.
Why male flies favour longer copulation timesJune 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A study on flies of the species Drosophila montana has shown that females engaged in extended intercourse wait longer before they mate again, increasing the first fly's chances of fathering offspring. Published in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, the study explains why males favour longer copulation times.
Chimps trade sex for meatApril 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Even in forests, sex sells. A new study has found that male chimpanzees that share meat with females double their chances of having sex with them.
Female orangs snatch food from males to test potential matesApril 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has revealed that female orang-utans test potential mates by snatching food from the males, which enables them to find out whether they would react violently or tolerate the stealing. Maria van Noordwijk, who authored the study at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, revealed that the females would scream and tended to end the interactions when the males reacted violently or took the food back.
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