Males More Considerate Than Stereotyped

Tuesday, November 2, 2010 - 11:32 in Biology & Nature

Some males give back too - even when it comes to sex. Male worms plug females after copulation as a form of 'gift', a nice gesture, rather than to prevent them from mating again, as most had previously been thought, according to researchers writing in Frontiers in Zoology who found that plugged females mated just as often and were just as attractive as those who were unplugged, and that plugging ultimately improved female fitness. Mating plugs have been documented for a broad range of animal groups, including insects, arachnids, reptiles, and rodents. In the worms studied, plugs consist of gelatinous mass deposited by the male onto the female's vulva at the end of copulation, which then hardens like glue. read more

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