Psychology I / Mating Systems and Sexual Selection
Practice question · Select all that apply

Select every statement that is TRUE about mating systems and sexual selection.

Hints
  1. Two options are misconceptions - one about how ornaments evolve, one about which sex competes.
  2. Ornaments arise from mate CHOICE (inter-sexual), and competition follows investment, not sex.
Show the answer
  • C. Rival stags locking antlers are settling access between themselves, with no female involved in the contest.
  • D. Which sex competes and which chooses can be predicted before knowing which is male.
  • E. Where one parent alone cannot rear the young, staying paired starts to pay for both.
Why

Biparental monogamy, investment-predicts-choosiness, and male-male competition are all true. Ornaments evolve through inter-sexual CHOICE (not combat), and the competing sex is the lower-investing one (not always the male) - so those two are false.

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