Latest Sexual selection Stories
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online A new study published in PLOS One suggests facial preferences across different populations vary. Northwestern University researchers tested the assumption that the presence of chin shape in picking a mate is consistent across human populations. However, they found when tested, this theory didn't hold true. "This suggests that either sexual selection hasn't been important in shaping chin shape in humans or that facial preferences...
Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online A new Brigham Young University (BYU) study has delved into the longstanding debate of “Nature versus Nurture,” proving that dominant male deer are often the result of a mother’s extra special care. According to the study, led by BYU student Eric Freeman, and published in the latest issue of PLoS ONE, a mother deer knows when her male offspring will be a great leader of deer, even as the male is still in the womb. This extra...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Many animals spend their lives living in remote or inaccessible areas of the planet, so understanding their various habits can require some ingenuity from the various scientists who study them. By tapping into their ingenuity, a group of U.K. researchers from the University of East Anglia has uncovered new information on the mating habits of endangered sea turtles. According to the research team’s report in the newest edition of...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online According to a new study in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, determining if certain extinct animals had sexually selective traits is possible, despite the fact that we cannot observe their behavior. Many animals have sexually selective traits that are used or displayed in pursuit of a mate, male peacocks have their colorful plumage and mallard ducks have a distinct green coloration to their head feathers. Some of these...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online An international research group, led by the University of Barcelona, has found there is no evidence to support the association between facial shape and aggression in men. The study, published in a recent issue of PLOS ONE, sampled almost 5,000 individuals from 94 worldwide populations. The team, which includes Rolando González José, from the Patagonic National Centre (CENPAT-CONICET) and Jorge Gómez Valdés, from the National...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online British researchers have found that male finches will use their birdsongs like their human counterpart use an out-of-date Facebook profile picture – to trick a potential mate into thinking they are more physically fit than they actually are. According to the team’s report in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, these males only ply their deception with females they have just met, as familiar lady birds can see through the phony...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Ever tried to have sex in a house full of people, especially people you feel in competition with? It's not that easy, and the feeling of being watched is off-putting for most of us. It would be worse if those people could actually see you, and harass you during the act, right? Apparently, monkeys feel the same way. A new study by Anne Overduin-de Vries and her team from the Biomedical Primate Research Center reveals that monkeys shy...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A small amount of male DNA can be found in the brains of women, something researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) believe may be the result of leftover DNA in the mother’s body by a male fetus, which occurs relatively frequently. In a first-of-its-kind study, William Chan, PhD, Department of Biochemistry at University of Alberta, and J. Lee Nelson, senior author at FHCRC, looked at microchimerism--the...
Sex can trigger remarkable female responses including altered fertility, immunity, libido, eating and sleep patterns - by the activation of diverse sets of genes, according to research from the University of East Anglia. Publishing today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the researchers studied how female Drosophila melanogaster - or fruit flies – respond to mating. They discovered that a single protein found in semen generates a wide range of responses in many genes...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online The latest IUCN Red List registers Magellanic penguins as ‘Near Vulnerable’ from a conservation standpoint, however a group of scientists from Bowling Green State University want to see if concerns might be tempered or fueled by understanding the genetic diversity amongst the birds’ populations in South America. To measure the amount of genetic diversity in the birds, the researchers focused on the Major Histocompatibility...
