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Juvenile social dynamics reflect adult reproductive strategies in dolphins
- dgb23 6y agoThe article doesn’t explain well why the male mating strategy is so successful or preferred. Is male sociability a critical feature to be selected by females?
- pdpi 6y agoIt does mention it — groups of males will corner a female and force themselves on her.
- tux1968 6y agoI can't fathom how the need for young dolphins to lay the groundwork for what is essentially a rape-posse, came to be the path to evolutionary success. It would seem that consensual reproduction would be the norm in any successful strategy, given the critical need for offspring.
- ralph84 6y agoWhy is it hard to fathom? The dolphin waiting for consent to make sweet love never reproduces because the rape-posse gets to the fertile females first. The real world of evolutionary success isn’t all rainbows and unicorns.
- tux1968 6y agoSurprised that females aren't wanting to pair and mate with the most desirable males, and why social behaviors that offer some protection are lacking -- female dolphins must have an instinct for reproduction too. If these male dolphins are desirable, why do they need to force themselves? Why wouldn't a female be open to it? If they are not desirable, then evolutionarily speaking, wont this lead to very poor results.
- ralph84 6y agoFrom an evolutionary perspective, a desirable male is one whose genes will produce offspring with the best chance of reproductive success. Everything else is secondary. The sexy son hypothesis[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexy_son_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexy_son_hypothesis
- dgb23 6y agoEvolution does not have a strategy. It might very well be that this mating concept will be unsustainable in the future. Or it might be that it doesn’t do enough harm, so there isn’t enough pressure for to lose out. Extreme example: there are plenty of unsustainable human behaviors that are the norm right now.
- tux1968 6y agoUnderstood. The thing that leaves me curious though, is why the females seem so reluctant in general -- enough to make forced insemination the norm. Even though being a parent is very expensive, where is their reproductive impulse? I guess it just isn't needed or ever selected for if reproduction happens without it.
- parsimo2010 6y agoThere are many species that don’t care about consent. The ones that do have consent tend to spend a lot of energy growing plumage and doing elaborate dances to woo the females. It shouldn’t be that hard to understand that some species evolution would land on rape as a way to save the time and energy spent during courtship. Just because humans shun rape it doesn’t mean it can’t work for other species, moral issues aside.
- adamsea 6y agoThe very concept of consent or rape (as moral and ethical concepts - which is why the article uses the word “coerce” instead of “rape”, I bet) are difficult to apply to nonhuman species because they’re not human. [EDIT: interestingly I think this all boils down to considering if dolphins have ethics or “dolphin rights” within their own societies. A violation of a right is logically impossible if the very concept of, or indeed, the right itself, does not exist.] I think it would be really interesting to talk about animal ethics and with very smart mammals like dolphins moral imperatives like consent might be appropriate in some way but I just don’t know. But it’s inaccurate, imho, to talk about rape as a reproductive strategy for animals if we are using that word in the way we use it when we are talking about ourselves (humans). Again not to say the concept is irrelevant to animal life but I think we do both ourselves and animals a disservice if we aren’t careful. If you are speaking with some knowledge of animal ethics but didn’t share it my apologies :)
- CMCDragonkai 6y agoYour comment seems to imply that there's something fundamentally different from humans and other animals.
- adamsea 6y agoGood point. I don't know, I'd like to learn more! I mean we aren't that different from other animals, especially our fellow mammals. And we're all part of nature and life. And it definitely seems like many animals have varying degrees of what we call consciousness or intelligence (octopus!). At the same time there is an obvious difference, though perhaps one of degree and not of kind. The sophistication of our language, social structures, capacity for abstract thought, and toolmaking abilities. Stuff like that.
- ggggtez 6y agoRape is a successful evolutionary strategy in many animals. See ducks.
- pvaldes 6y agoA smart top predator that travels and hunts in groups. Yup, definitely male sociability looks like a very desirable trait. Females will remain with the mother and grandmas. Males will need to integrate in an adolescent group and quit and will pass several years jumping between groups. They need to learn a lot of foraging strategies, how to recognize danger warnings and interact within the group and with other groups. Dolphins interact also with other cetaceans and need to know who is safe and who will try to eat you.
- adamsea 6y agoThat’s an understandable conclusion to jump to but IIRC the article said they thought the males needed to form peer groups because the male dolphin mating strategy is, to quote from the article, for a group of males to get a female dolphin alone and coerce her into sex. Which feels weird to write but apparently is how dolphins do it. The article also said females needed peers for foraging, to have additional support when raising vulnerable young.
- pvaldes 6y agoRape sells clicks, but is not their only mating strategy. There is a high plasticity in their individual behaviour. Grandmas and mothers will try to chase off young adolescents doing undesired advances over young females so most attempts will be stopped probably. On the other hand, known older males will be recognized and accepted by females (and chased off by males). The simple explanation is that what we see is the expected normal expression of testosterone in a young mammal. Cetaceans have relatively long adolescences to polish their survival strategies and are curious and (often) very social. That alone would explain their desire to join a group with other playmates. The probability of a young bottlenose to mate successfully is (probably) low. They need to full develop physically, but also psychologically, before; and is a slow process.
- bbutterworth 6y agoPick your friends wisely, young dolphin
- arkanciscan 6y agoTIL I would be a very unsuccessful dolphin.