When it comes to investigating mysteries, Sherlock Holmes has nothing on Rice University biologist Amy Dunham. In a newly published paper, Dunham offers a new theory for one of primatology's long-standing mysteries: Why are male and female lemurs the same size?
In most primate species, males have evolved to be much larger than females. Size is an advantage for males that guard females to keep other males from mating with them, and evolutionary biologists have long wondered why lemurs evolved differently. Some theories have suggested that environment played a role or that lemur social development was altered due to the extinction of predatory birds.
"Scientifically, this is quite a big question that researchers have debated for over 20 years," said Dunham, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. "I actually started doing research on lemurs as an undergraduate, working in Ranomafana (National Park in Madgascar), and the question about size monomorphism has bugged me since then."
In a paper featured on the cover of this month's Journal of Evolutionary Biology, Dunham offers one of the first new theories on lemur monomorphism in more than a decade.
After an exhaustive review of the observational work done on lemurs, Dunham came to the conclusion that male lemurs do guard their mates, just like other primates. But unlike gorillas and other primates that fight for mating rights with females, male lemurs have evolved to passively guard their mates.
They do this by depositing a solid plug inside the female's reproductive tract just as they finish mating. The plug is deposited as a liquid protein but quickly hardens and stays in place for a day or two. Since many female lemurs are sexually responsive to males for only one day out of the entire year, the plug serves the purpose of preventing other males from mating with the female, while also freeing the male to mate with other females during the br
'/>"/>
| Contact: David Ruth druth@rice.edu 713-348-6327 Rice University Source:Eurekalert |
Related biology news :
1. New theory gives more precise estimates of large-scale biodiversity
2. MS study offers theory for why repair of brains wiring fails
3. Rumbaughs theory links positions of Wilson, Skinner
4. Clarke clarifies pattern recognition theory
5. Researchers disprove 15-year-old theory about the nervous system
6. Rethinking the genetic theory of inheritance
7. Nearly a century later, new findings support Warburg theory of cancer
8. No place like home: New theory for how salmon, sea turtles find their birthplace
9. Scientists present moving theory behind bacterial decision-making
10. Revised theory suggests carbon dioxide levels already in danger zone
11. Armored fish study helps strengthen Darwins natural selection theory
 |
| Copyright © 2003-2012 Bio-Medicine. All rights reserved. ABOUT | CONTACT US | DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS AND CONDITIONS |  |