Practice question · Multiple choice
In most species females are the choosier sex. In seahorses, where the male carries the developing brood, it is the male who is choosy and the female who competes. Why does the reversal matter more than the general rule?
Hints
- A rule with an exception is weaker. A rule whose exceptions obey a deeper rule is stronger. Which is this?
- Ask what changed in the seahorse, and what stayed the same.
Show the answer
A. Because it shows the driver is parental investment, not sex.
Why
If choosiness were a fact about being female, the seahorse would be an anomaly to file away; it is the crucial test. 'Females are choosy' and 'heavy investors are choosy' predict identically everywhere except in sex-role-reversed species, which is precisely where the two come apart, and investment wins.
Practise Mating Systems and Sexual Selection
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