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jake-head-shot.jpgJake Young is a MD/PhD student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine focusing in Neuroscience. He is due to graduate in 2032. He received a BS and a MS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University -- where he spent most of his time drinking heavily and building vegetable catapults instead of learning information that would now be eminently useful. When he is not failing terrifically to perform his sworn duties, he enjoys watching bad movies, ethnic food, and running.

Pure Pedantry is a blog about science -- social sciences and otherwise -- as well as academic and scientific culture. No one can live on science alone, so I also like to dwell on pop culture, periodically explore the humanities, and indulge in other types of geeky goodness.

Jake is joined periodically by two wonderful guest bloggers: Kara Contreary and Kate Seip. See the About Page.

DISCLAIMERS: 1) Jake Young is not a licensed physician (yet). He is merely a medical student. The information published on this site is not intended for use in medical decision making. Please seek advice from a licensed, medical professional before making any health decisions. 2) The opinions expressed are my own or those of my co-bloggers. They do not represent the views of SEED magazine or the educational establishments we currently attend.

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The Miracle of Copulating Late

Category: Sex
Posted on: October 25, 2006 9:07 AM, by Jake Young

Hot. This is article is too funny:

From bonobo chimpanzees to fruit flies, many female animals mate with multiple partners that often queue up for the event. Studies have shown that the the last male to mate with a female is the most successful at impregnating her. Nobody has understood why.
The last male can take advantage of a more "sperm-friendly" environment created by males that have copulated before him, according to a new model put forth by David Hosken and David Hodgson of the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.

Males ejaculate hundreds of millions of sperm into the female reproductive tract, but most don't make it to the egg for fertilization. In mammals, just .001 percent of the ejaculated sperm hit the fertilization target.

"We know that the reproductive tract in females can be a nasty place for sperm," Hodgson told LiveScience. The acidity can kill many sperm, and scientists think some females' immune systems attack sperm as a "foreign object."

The seminal fluid in a male's ejaculate helps to buffer the acidity, creating more viable conditions for sperm. By waiting in line, males could exploit the ejaculate from other males, giving their sperm a cushy ride into the female's uterus to fertilize eggs.

...

You might think alpha males would exploit this strategy. But Hodgson said there are many sneaky males in the animal kingdom, such as red deer, that lurk just on the outskirts of a mating arena. Some are weaker than alpha males. "They're like spies, and they rush in whenever they get the chance and inseminate the female," he said.

The finding seems to apply to any organism in which females mate with multiple partners in rapid succession, out in the open where others can watch. The mating needs to be relatively rapid for the physical effects of a prior male's sperm to remain.

This includes females of many fruit-fly species, which re-mate within an hour. The male yellow dung fly will interrupt and take over a copulation, removing and replacing their rivals.

As for human examples, Hodgson said he couldn't think of any. (Emphasis mine.)

Hahahaha!!!! No comment. This article doesn't need any of my help.

Comments

You think that was hilarious? Try this on for kicks ...
Multiunit recording of cerebellar cortex during training for sexual experience in male rats by J. Manzo, R. Garcia, S. Magana, L. I. Garcia, R. Toledo, M. E. Hernandez
Inst Neuroetologia, Univ Veracruzana, Xalapa, Mexico
They haven't published yet, but they did have a poster @ SfN. And as an annual stunt in my neuro dept we come back home and present "the coolest poster @ SfN" guess what i presented? Yeah, the 40Hz gamma band seen in the cerebellum that stays strong throughout male rat copulation. The extrapolation of this data? An electrode instead of Viagra.

Posted by: Vibhati | October 25, 2006 11:13 AM

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