tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3201477201080149144.post6246538947664797774..comments2024-03-14T09:16:11.201-07:00Comments on darwin safari: Roarke's New and Hot (Week 5)chickenpoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07967065037706437425noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3201477201080149144.post-55419379399134277082007-05-02T19:46:00.000-07:002007-05-02T19:46:00.000-07:00I think the point of the female's defenses is to p...I think the point of the female's defenses is to prevent forced copulation, so that the females don't have to bear the children of males who won't be around to take care of the kids. Apparently most species of ducks are pair-bonding, so for the females, it's to their reproductive advantage to be fertilized by males who will stick around afterward and invest energy in child rearing (i.e. males who don't rape them). I think part of it is that the female's defenses prevent forced copulation but not normal copulation.<BR/>-Roarkechickenpoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07967065037706437425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3201477201080149144.post-72181638753808222582007-05-01T20:42:00.000-07:002007-05-01T20:42:00.000-07:00I agree with Becca, I don't understand why nature ...I agree with Becca, I don't understand why nature would try to make it harder for the organism to produce offspring. Wasn't it the point to pass down your genetic information as much as possible? We should look up the population trends for this type of duck and see if they're declining in number...<BR/>Danichickenpoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07967065037706437425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3201477201080149144.post-81487770837691735352007-05-01T13:05:00.000-07:002007-05-01T13:05:00.000-07:00Forgot to sign that comment...-BeccaForgot to sign that comment...<BR/><BR/>-Beccachickenpoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07967065037706437425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3201477201080149144.post-1848481278815986982007-05-01T13:04:00.000-07:002007-05-01T13:04:00.000-07:00This reminds me of the subtle differences that I a...This reminds me of the subtle differences that I addressed in my presentation last week, whereby small changes in rhetoric can change the entire paradigm of sexual reproduction from competitive to cooperative. It's interesting to me that the article presents females and males as competing, much like two species in a parasitic relationship; why would females need to evolve "defenses" against copulation? Is it not in their best interest, as well as the male's, for the male's sperm to most efficiently reach their eggs? I would be interested to see if the researchers studying these ducks had any alternate hypotheses that accounted for this.chickenpoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07967065037706437425noreply@blogger.com