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The secret sex lives of crickets
- Thread starter JColt
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- Jul 12, 2003
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fascinating find. it reminds me on a documentary of a lizard that varies in size from generation to generation, due to the influx of males success.
"The first insight was that, for both sexes, promiscuity paid off. Both male and female crickets that mated with more partners ended up with more offspring than those with fewer partners. Generally, mating repeatedly within a season is considered more costly and less beneficial for females than males because females are limited by the number of eggs they can produce."
The idea that female promiscuity is costly and less beneficial for females has been disproved in almost all cases. For examples, there's even a chapter in olivia judson's book Dr. Tatiana's sex advice to all creation has a section in it called "let loose the whores of war" which is all about how of bateman's principle is erroneous. Even among primate species which are supposed to have dominant males which are supposed to be the only one's to breed, it always benefits the female fecundity-wise, and probably the group, for the females to philander.
How would you like to be the graduate student who has to analyse hours and hours of cricket mating video?
The idea that female promiscuity is costly and less beneficial for females has been disproved in almost all cases. For examples, there's even a chapter in olivia judson's book Dr. Tatiana's sex advice to all creation has a section in it called "let loose the whores of war" which is all about how of bateman's principle is erroneous. Even among primate species which are supposed to have dominant males which are supposed to be the only one's to breed, it always benefits the female fecundity-wise, and probably the group, for the females to philander.
How would you like to be the graduate student who has to analyse hours and hours of cricket mating video?