Posted on 08/31/2009 5:08:43 PM PDT by JoeProBono
Even flies engage in the battle of the sexes, a new study says.
Female fruit flies prefer to keep sex short and sweet, while males like it to last longer. Naturally, a fight ensues.
After about a minute and a half [of mating], the female begins kicking and struggling," said study co-author Kirsten Klappert of the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology.
That's because females get a reproductive boost from shorter sex: When mating lasts longer, female flies have less time to mate again with a different male, if they do so at all.
That's good for the guy, because it means his sperm have less competition. But it can be disastrous for females, which want to increase genetic variability of their offspring.
What's more, "many male Drosophila montana are infertile, so if you only mate with one you have a high risk of no offspring at all," Klappert said.
Making Babies
To see how much control female flies have over mating length, Klappert, Dominique Mazzi of the University of Jyväskylä, and colleagues paired live males with dead females.
The team propped up the dead insects—Weekend at Bernie's-style—to convince the males that they were still alive and ready for sex.
The males obliged, and this "stiff sex" lasted 1.5 times longer than it did with live females, the researchers found.
Female Drosophila montana fruit flies (pictured, another species of fruit fly) prefer to keep sex short and sweet, while males like it to last longer, scientists said in August 2009.
That's because females see a reproductive benefit from shorter sex: When mating lasts longer, female flies have less time to mate again with a different male, if they do so at all.
Evidently, that 30-second foreplay and 30-second cuddle was plenty? Ladies?
Necrophilia - Fruit Fly style
This explains why my wife is always telling me to buzzzzzzz off.
How many millions of dollars did this survey cost us??
As Spock used to say “Fascinating...”.
As for myself, I have “no comment”. LOL.
To think that someone actually receives a paycheck for this.
Seems about right.
Female fruit flies prefer to keep sex short and sweet, while males like it to last longer.What? They had to watch thousands of pairs of flies mating over a period of months, and they didn't call the rest of us? Jerks.
Dadgum! No way did I think this would gravitate into porn.
Apparently female flies also get headaches
“But it can be disastrous for females, which want to increase genetic variability of their offspring.”
Precisely how did we find out what the female fruit fly wants ? And how does a female fruit fly become aware of genetics, evolution, and that sort of thing ?
That’s it. I’m part fruit fly.
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