ANT211H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Sperm Competition, Cuckold, Egg Cell
Document Summary
Introduction sperm competition occurs when a female copulates with two ormore males within a suf ci ently brief time period, resulting in the sperm of thedifferent males simultaneously occupying the femal e"s reproductive tract andcompeting to fertilize ova. In humans, female in delity is the primary context for sperm competition. The reproductive costs of cuckoldry may have caused the evolution of malesperm competition tactics- adaptations that increase sperm competition success. Semen-displacing copulatory behaviors may function as sperm competitiontactics in humans. Another cue to sperm competition risk that may correlate with semen- displacingcopulatory behavior is the presence of rival males. Research on non- humans documents that the presence of rival males causesthe deployment of sperm competition tactics. Two studies have investigated the presence of rival males as a cue to spermcompetition risk in humans. 232 we also investigated in thecurrent research a novel measure of sperm competition risk: the discrep ancy insexual interest between romantic partners.
