Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Monkey Sperm and Female Infidelity
Some of what I am about to say has to do directly with this article, which I lifted from The Australian this morning.
It's not every day I have an opportunity to read and/or write about testicle size, so I though I should make use of it - who knows when it will happen again.
The article relates to a study done on the sperm count and testicle size of a dozen species of primate. Humans included. Basically the findings were that the more promiscuious the females of a given species, the higher the sperm count of the male - because during sex his sperm was in direct competition with the sperm of rival males. As a result, male chimpanzees, whose female counterparts are apparently the filthy harlots of the primate world have a very high sperm count and massive balls for their body size. Gorillas on the other hand, with particularly faithful females have comparatively diminuitive gonads.
Humans, it turns out fall somewhere in between. I will conclude this little discussion with two select paragraphs from the article:
"It is likely that our female ancestors cheated on their spouses often enough to leave men with room for doubt about their paternity."
Are women just as inlcined to infidelity as men are constantly painted to be? There are certain genetic clues pointing towards a 'yes'. I could probably name a small sample of my female friends to give weight to this argument - but I am not going to.
I will leave you with a more thorough explanation of why a high sperm count is neccessary in species with promiscuious females:
"Making more sperm is not the only way of boosting a male's chances of fertilising an egg. If his partner might be cheating on him, he can improve his prospects by producing sticky semen that coagulates in the vagina, creating a "chastity belt" that stops rival sperm from getting past."
It's not every day I have an opportunity to read and/or write about testicle size, so I though I should make use of it - who knows when it will happen again.
The article relates to a study done on the sperm count and testicle size of a dozen species of primate. Humans included. Basically the findings were that the more promiscuious the females of a given species, the higher the sperm count of the male - because during sex his sperm was in direct competition with the sperm of rival males. As a result, male chimpanzees, whose female counterparts are apparently the filthy harlots of the primate world have a very high sperm count and massive balls for their body size. Gorillas on the other hand, with particularly faithful females have comparatively diminuitive gonads.
Humans, it turns out fall somewhere in between. I will conclude this little discussion with two select paragraphs from the article:
"It is likely that our female ancestors cheated on their spouses often enough to leave men with room for doubt about their paternity."
Are women just as inlcined to infidelity as men are constantly painted to be? There are certain genetic clues pointing towards a 'yes'. I could probably name a small sample of my female friends to give weight to this argument - but I am not going to.
I will leave you with a more thorough explanation of why a high sperm count is neccessary in species with promiscuious females:
"Making more sperm is not the only way of boosting a male's chances of fertilising an egg. If his partner might be cheating on him, he can improve his prospects by producing sticky semen that coagulates in the vagina, creating a "chastity belt" that stops rival sperm from getting past."
# posted by Nils @ 10:59 AM 
