Latest Mating Stories

The success of a fungal pathogen in becoming a persistent and opportunistic source of infection in human beings may be due to a mating strategy that can best be described as "don't be too choosy." A new Brown University study finds that Candida albicans will respond to the pheromones of several different species, not just its own, and if an opposite-sex partner isn't around, it can switch over to same-sex mating. In affairs of DNA exchange "” for the yeast has no heart "”...

University of Guelph researchers have finally figured out why female squirrels are so darn promiscuous. Turns out it has nothing to do with genes and everything to do with how many males are knocking at their door."Their behaviour is overwhelmingly influenced by opportunity," said graduate student Eryn McFarlane, who, along with integrative biology professor Andrew McAdam and a team of researchers from across Canada, solved a mystery that has baffled biologists for years.Their...

A new study published this week shows a genetic 'battle of the sexes' could be much harder to resolve and even more important to evolution than previously thought.This battle, observed across many species and known as intralocus sexual conflict, happens when the genes for a trait which is good for the breeding success of one sex are bad for the other "“ sparking an 'evolutionary tug-o-war' between the sexes.It has previously been thought these issues were only resolved when the trait in...

At least, in nematode wormsMale worms plug females after copulation as a form of 'gift', rather than to prevent them from mating again, as had previously been thought. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Frontiers in Zoology found that plugged females mated just as often and were just as attractive as those who were unplugged, and that plugging ultimately improved female fitness.Nadine Timmermeyer worked with a team of researchers from the University of Tuebingen,...

They are one of the most highly prized delicacies in the culinary world, but now scientists have discovered that black truffles are locked in a gender war for reproduction. The research, published in New Phytologist as the truffle season begins, represents a breakthrough in the understanding of truffle cultivation and distribution.The teams, led by Dr Francesco Paolocci and Dr Andrea Rubini from the CNR Plant Genetics Institute in Perugia and by Dr Francis Martin from INRA in Nancy, carried...

A forthcoming issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family states that children today are less likely to be born into a "traditional" family structure, defined as two biological married parents. Growing numbers of children in the United States experience multiple family living arrangements during childhood. How these transitions affect the individual child's well-being needs to be fully addressed by researchers and policymakers alike. This article fully reviews the existing research from the...

Sexual conflict is not only a human phenomenon. Scientists at the University of Gothenburg have shown that females of the rough periwinkle conceal their gender identity in order to avoid excessive copulation.The females of most species of snail excrete a substance in their mucous trails that enables males to find them more easily, since they can distinguish between trails from females and those from other males. The males follow the mucous trails laid down by females in order to find a...

Male bedbugs are known to be very unfussy when it comes to mating, mounting any well-fed bug they can see - regardless of age or gender. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology have discovered how immature bedbug nymphs, who would be harmed by the traumatic insemination technique practiced by the males, release alarm pheromones to deter this unwanted attention.Vincent Harraca, from Lund University, Sweden, worked with a team of researchers to stage encounters between males...

Courtship calls tell penguin females how fat a male is and what kind of father he'll beHow does a female penguin choose a mate? Courtship calls help females decide which males are likely to be devoted dads, says a study in the journal Behaviour.Antarctic penguins come on land for just a few short months each summer to breed and raise their chicks. Raising a family in the coldest place on earth is no small feat. Adelie penguins pull it off by tag-team parenting, the researchers explained....

A new study by researchers in Germany, which appears in the Wednesday edition of the journal Biology Letters, provides new insight into the unusual sex life of spiders.Scientists Klaas W. Welke and Jutta M. Schneider of the University of Hamburg's Zoological Institute and Museum raised a handful of common European spiders from eggs that they discovered in a nearby meadow. The spiders were fed fruit flies until they reached adulthood, and Welke and Schneider observed their mating...