| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Sperm competition may lead to evolutionary adaptations for producing more sperm, such as larger testes. Such adaptations cost and so species with low sperm competition invest in mate competition instead.
The British biologist Geoffrey Parker proposed the concept of sperm competition in a 1970 paper.
In primates Harcourt et al (1981) studied the relative size of testes compared to body mass against the mating system. They found that promiscuousPromiscuity is the practice of making relatively unselective, casual and indiscriminate choices. It is most commonly applied to sexual behavior where it means sex that is not in the framework of a steady sexual relationship (instead of that or in addition chimpanzeePan troglodytes Pan paniscus Chimpanzees also called chimps are the common name for two species in the genus Pan . The best known chimpanzee is Pan troglodytes the Common Chimpanzee, living in West and Central Africa. Its cousin, the Bonobo or Pygmy Chimps have larger testes compared to polygynousThe term polygyny (Greek: poly many, gynaika woman) is used in related ways in social anthropology and sociobiology. Definitions In social anthropology, polygyny is a marital practice in which a man has more than one wife simultaneously. This is the usual gorillaGorilla gorilla Gorilla beringei The Gorilla the largest of the primates, is a ground-dwelling herbivore that inhabits the forests of central Africa. Gorillas move about by knuckle-walking. Males range in height from 1. 75 m, and in weight from 140 kg tos.