Reproduction :: essays research papers

For some time she had watched his movements,appearing coyly in his haunts. And now, had itpaid off? Doubtless, he was in love. His muscleswere taut he swooped through the air more likean eagle than a Greylag gander. The only problemwas, it was not for her that he accordingly landed in aflurry of quacks and wingb wipe outs, or for her that hedashed off surprise attacks on his fellows. It was,rather, for another - for her preening rival acrossthe Bavarian lake. despicable goose. Will she mate withthe gander of her dreams? Or will she trail him foryears, laying infertile egg clutches as proof of herfaithfulness? Either outcome is realizable in ananimal world marked daily by scenes of courtship,spurning and love triumphant. And take note theseare not the imaginings of some Disney screen-16writer. Decades ago Konrad Lorenz, a notedAustrian naturalist, made detailed studies ofGreylags and afterwards showed no hesitation inusing words like love, grief and evenembarrassment to describe the behavior of theselarge, social birds. At the same time he did notforget that all romance - animal and human - is tiedintimately to natural selection. pictorial selectionbrought on the evolution of males and femalesduring prehistoric epochs when environmentalchange was making life difficult for single-sexspecies such as bacteria and algae. Generally,these reproduced by splitting into similar copiesof themselves. New generations were thus nobetter than old ones at surviving in an alteredworld. With the emergence of the sexes, however,youngsters acquired the qualities of two parents.This meant that they were different from both -different and by chance better at coping with toughproblems of survival. At the same time, nature hadto furnish a new set of instincts which would make"parents" out of such uncaring entities asmollusks and jellyfish.. The peacocks splendidfeathers, the fireflys flash, the humpback whalesresounding bellow - all are means these animalshave evolv ed to obey natures command "Find amate. Transmit your characteristics through time"But while most males would accept indiscriminatemating, females generally have more on theirminds. In most species, after all, they take onreproductions hardest chores such as carryingyoung, incubating eggs and tending newborns.Often they can produce only a few young in alifetime. (Given half a chance, most males wouldspawn thousands.) So its no surprising that theladies are choosy. They want to match theircharacteristics with those of a successful mate. Hemay flap his wings or join a hockey team, butsomehow he must show that his offspring will notlikely be last to eat or first in predatory jaws.