Fitteste Männchen nicht immer bevorzugt

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Eine interessante Studie besagt, dass die wettbewerbsfähigsten Männchen nicht automatisch bevorzugt werden.

The fittest males don't always get the girl, USC biologists report. Study tackles a paradox in species from fruit flies to humans: If warriors win the spoils, why don't males evolve towards super-aggressiveness?
[...]
If aggression makes you more likely to father children, all males should be selected to be very aggressive. Male fruit flies (like humans and other animals) show a lot of genetic variation in aggression, and we wanted to find out why,"

One reason for the variation, according to the study and to previous research on lizards by other groups, may be that no fighting strategy works all the time, just as in the game rock-scissors-paper.

"We showed in fruit flies that even the most genetically aggressive flies can have an Achilles heel, and lose against males who are (for the most part) wimps," Foley wrote.

"There's no single way to win a fight, or win mates," he added. "Females didn't necessarily prefer aggressive males -- some males mated less when they lost fights, but some males mated more if they didn't fight. Moreover, different females preferred different males."

Quelle

Bei Fruchtfliegen zumindestens.

Natürlich lässt sich das Prinzip nicht so einfach auf Menschen übertragen; Parallelen sind dennoch klar und augenscheinlich.