Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The Danger of Excessive Sex Appeal for Females

From National Geographic:
There is a price to beauty: "Sexier" female fruit flies suffer more than unattractive ones, according to a new study. The most fetching female fruit flies—that is, the biggest females, which can produce the most eggs—were inundated with suitors and hatched fewer babies than less desirable flies, said study leader Tristan Long, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Toronto. The reason is twofold: The repeated advances hindered the females' ability to find food, and too much sex left the females overloaded with toxic semen, Long said.

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