Big Guys Don’t Always Get the Girls
Published on August 1, 2003
“People just expect the dominant guy to win. But females learn through personal experience that these males can be hurtful,” said an Ontario researcher who observed Japanese quail. After female quail watched a fight between two males, virgin females showed preference for the winner, but sexually-experienced females chose the loser.Female coho salmon also are more likely to mate with males, called jacks, that stop growing earlier and are smaller than their competitors, according to an evolutionary biologist in Arizona. The researcher suspects female salmon are attracted to jacks because early maturing could be a sign of quality and success.
“The females may also prefer to avoid the physical abuse of mating with aggressive males,” the magazine added.