There are many different, sometime exotic and bizarre, animal mating behaviors. Taking data from animal mating research and applying it to humans should always be done in caution. However, this study ”Faithful females key to evolution of bird societies,” contains some interesting analysis of promiscuity that seems beneficial as a tool to understand what the feminist and sexual revolutions did to the human society and the end of family in the west.
Relevant quote:
“‘We found that across bird species, whether or not a species is cooperative depends upon the sex lives of females,’ says Dr Ashleigh Griffin of the Department of Zoology at Oxford University, who led the research. ‘The more promiscuous a female is – the more mates she has – the less help there is likely to be from the rest of the family in raising the young.’
She explains: ‘When females are faithful and mate with only a single male, her offspring will be full siblings and hence closely related to each other. This favours cooperation, because helping a close relative reproduce can be an efficient way of transmitting genes to the next generation. ‘In contrast, if a female is promiscuous and mates with multiple males, her offspring will be half siblings and so less related. In this case, young adult birds may be more likely to disperse to breed themselves, rather than stay on the nest to help mum.”
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