Why do only females select males?

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by aaqucnaona, Dec 18, 2011.

  1. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    Oh then there are the egg layers were the males are required to carry the offspring in there mouth or produce a substance that the babies eat or build the nest and sit on it (in the case of birds) or 100 of other ways where the female is irrelevant after producing eggs
     
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  3. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    The Emperor Penguin is interesting in that it is another species where the male contributes greatly to the raising of the young.

    Mate selection seems to be by mutual agreement.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Penguin
     
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  5. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    Asguard:

    My comments were not restricted to humans.

    That this is not a universal rule for all species was discussed prior to your post. I suggest you read the thread.
     
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  7. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    I like how the black widow spider does it...female is bigger, stronger and eats him afterwards.

    She doesn't have to fear rape..doesn't have to engage in a hundred safety behaviours...doesn't have to wonder if her sleeveless shirt will attract a rapist before reflecting that rapists don't even look, primarily, for visual attractiveness.

    And then she doesn't have to put up with his emotional problems afterwards, either. Hehee.
     
  8. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

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    I wonder if the male just lies there, or does he put up a fight.
    Is it built in to their genome to accept this brutality?

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  9. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    A picture is worth a thousand words, 'tis often said....

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  10. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

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    He's hardly worth eating. Surely not enough for a meal on the little critter. Does she take more than one mate to get a decent feed?

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  11. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    Myth: When black widow spiders mate, the female always kills and eats the male.

    Fact: This myth (which is not totally false, but very far from true) is believed even by scientists, and can be found in many ecology textbooks! It's depressing; the authors are obviously copying each other and have never actually watched black widows mate in the field.

    To understand the facts about black widow mating, you must first understand that there are many different species worldwide in the black-widow group (the genus Latrodectus), and three different black widow species in the United States alone, two in the east and one in the west. These species do not all behave alike. Moreover, in the past most observations of mating took place in laboratory cages, where males could not escape.

    The only known Latrodectus species in which mate cannibalism in nature is the rule, not the exception, are in the Southern Hemisphere. Of U.S. species, mate cannibalism occurs sometimes in Latrodectus mactans, the eastern (southern) black widow, but most males survive to mate another day. In the other two black species, including the western black widow L. hesperus (only species west of Kansas), mate cannibalism has never been observed in the wild!

    http://www.burkemuseum.org/spidermyth/myths/blackwidow.html
     
  12. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    Click on image to view video of mating ritual for this species.
     
  13. Robittybob1 Banned Banned

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    "Click on image to view video of mating ritual for this species." No thanks - Male rights campaigner!
     
  14. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    Actually its facinating, sort of reminds me of that fish where the male actually becomes part of the female when they mate

    of course theres the other side for VI, sea lice mating rituals

    http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMostExtreme

    born live but without a birth cannel the young eat there way out of mum, think your kids are paracytes now?

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  15. Hercules Rockefeller Beatings will continue until morale improves. Moderator

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    Ceratiidae (aka Sea devils)
     
  16. aaqucnaona This sentence is a lie Valued Senior Member

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    I think the male provides a large amount of nutrition to put in the eggs. What I wonder is, does the male become more nutritious [by some biochemical processes] once he is ready to mate?
     
  17. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    I love how you people skip straight over other peoples posts and in doing so look like idiots.

    aaqucnaona, scheherazade already busted that myth and I can tell you there is no cannibalistism in the video
     
  18. aaqucnaona This sentence is a lie Valued Senior Member

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    How do you hyperlink an image?
     
  19. aaqucnaona This sentence is a lie Valued Senior Member

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    When did I write about black widows? :bugeye:

    Anyway, I have a question [post #33].

    Ps. This also applies to mantises, right?
     
  20. KilljoyKlown Whatever Valued Senior Member

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    Have you noticed that in the bug world, females seem to dominate the males in one way or another. By comparison human females are looking real good.

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  21. chimpkin C'mon, get happy! Registered Senior Member

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    Last edited: Dec 22, 2011
  22. tantalus Registered Senior Member

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    Nevertheless, it is observed in some cases, quite common in the Australian Redback, and it deserves an explanation.
    Its worth noting that the male appeares to sacrifice himslef to the female by somersaulting into her jaws.

    Contribution to the future egg is a common proposed theory, but I am not sure. Consider the below paper. For some reason, I cant copy and paste the text, so you will have to read it to see the finding in the authors words.

    The author found that the consumption of a single male does not increase egg number or mass, after all the male is only in mass, a fraction the size of a female or her eggs.

    He did find however, that males that were eaten, copulated far longer than a male that wasnt eaten. This is beacuse copulation continued during consumption and that this continued copulation is the payoff. In addition females were less likely to copulate with another male afterwards (Iam not sure why this is, perhaps she isnt hungry), a further payoff to the eaten male. Weigh this against what the author discusses in the concluding paparagraphs, in that the males have a low chance of surviving in the wild while trying to find another female, therefore it is not actually sacrifing much in quantitative terms.

    https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/1009/2/Andrade96.pdf
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2011
  23. GeoffP Caput gerat lupinum Valued Senior Member

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    Setting aside the behavioural costs, the production of eggs is still energetically more expensive than sperm. But who does the choosing in the sea horse community?
     

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