PSYCH 220 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Rais, Sildenafil, Endometrium
Document Summary
Many species face death in order to mate: salmon swim upstream, praying mantises eat their partner, male elephant seals migrate hundreds of km to northern california to set up breeding territories. Sexual behavior is a critical component of reproduction: ensures the survival of the species. Human females can engage in sexual behavior any time during their cycle. In most other species, females are only receptive around the time of ovulation: female rats will not and physically cannot engage in copulation when not near ovulation. Will turn over and fight the rat if he tries to mount. Reproductive hormones act on the brain to induce behaviors that bring the male and female together and lead to copulation: female wants to be with male, her body is primed to and makes advances. Same hormones that make the female receptive also lead to ovulation. It is a costly investment to engage in sexual activity not near ovulation.
