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Cryptic female choice is a form of mate choice which occurs both in pre- and post-copulatory circumstances in which females of certain species use physical or chemical mechanisms to control a male's success of fertilizing their ova or ovum; i.e. by selecting whether sperm are successful in fertilizing their eggs or not. It occurs in internally ...
Male northern cardinals have conspicuous red feathers, while the females have a more cryptic coloration. In this example, the females are the choosy sex and will use male plumage brightness as a signal when picking a mate — research suggests that males with brighter plumage feed their young more frequently than males with duller plumage. [21]
One type of honest signal is the signalling of quality in sexually reproducing animals. In sexually reproducing animals one sex is generally the 'choosing sex' (often females) and the other the 'advertising sex' (often males). The choosing sex achieves the highest fitness by choosing the partner of the highest (genetic) quality.
The relative importance of these traits when considering mate selection differ depending on the type of mating arrangement females engage in. Human women typically employ long-term mating strategies when choosing a mate, however they also engage in short-term mating arrangements, so their mate choice preferences change depending on the function ...
Thus it has been suggested the rounded female breasts are signals of fertility. [24] Richard Dawkins has speculated that the loss of the penis bone in humans, when it is present in other primates, may be due to sexual selection by females looking for a clear sign of good health in prospective mates.
Sexual selection creates colourful differences between sexes in Goldie's bird-of-paradise.Male above; female below. Painting by John Gerrard Keulemans.. Sexual selection is a mechanism of evolution in which members of one biological sex choose mates of the other sex to mate with (intersexual selection), and compete with members of the same sex for access to members of the opposite sex ...
In these cases, the male and female will be continuously assessing each other based on sexual characteristics. In the blue-footed booby, the females tend to choose males with brighter blue feet, because birds with brighter feet are younger, and thus have greater fertility and ability to provide paternal care. [3]
[17] [page needed] Thus, the ovulatory shift hypothesis proposes that women possess a dual sexuality, where during the fertile window, a woman should prioritize attracting and choosing a mate with the best genetic quality, or “good genes”, since this is the only time she can become pregnant and pass on heritable genetic qualities to her ...