tank girl
New Member


sourceIT IS an age-old story in the animal kingdom: males give gifts to females to seduce them.
But why do some individuals hand over valuable presents while others get away with common tat? For instance, males of some fly species either present females with hard-won edible insects, or inedible seeds or twigs. Some even do both.
The evolutionary benefits of giving gifts that boost reproductive success, such as food, may seem obvious. But Natasha LeBas of the University of St Andrews in Scotland and colleagues believe worthless gifts also give males a selective advantage by reducing the investment they must make to reproduce.
They studied male dance flies mating on Scottish farmland. The researchers replaced the insect gifts being offered with cotton balls - and discovered the cotton-bearing males managed to copulate for just as long (Current Biology, vol 15, p 64). "Selection does seem to act strongly on the males that reduce their investment," LeBas told New Scientist, since this group of flies have evolved several fake gift strategies
Though technically, you'd think we humans would be a wee bit different from flies now.. huh
