Male Chimps Prefer Mature Babes

[Dardedar]

Male chimps prefer mature sex: study

Mon Nov 20, 4:02 PM ET

PARIS (AFP) - Male chimps, unlike their human counterparts, show a distinct sexual preference for females on the riper side of life, an American anthropologist reported in a paper.

Contrary to his own expectations, Martin Muller of Boston University found after years of observation that male chimpanzees consistently sought out the oldest females within a troop for sexual intercourse.

The startling discovery -- especially when contrasted with the sexual proclivities of humans, a close evolutionary cousin -- suggests that socialization plays a larger role in male-female relations that is commonly assumed.

Given this common ancestry between chimps and Homo sapiens, "the masculine preference for young woman is a derived human trait, probably due to the tendency to form long-term relationships between couples," Muller and his co-authors concluded.

A female chimpanzee reaches sexual maturity when she is about 10 years old, visible in the form of a pink protuberance around the genitals. During the estrous cycle -- when, in other words, the female is on heat -- it swells considerably, causing males to become aroused.

Males have the run of the field, and will typically copulate in succession with half-a-dozen willing partners, who sometimes literally line up to wait their turn.

But those who have been around the longest are more likely to attract the males amorous attentions.

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[img][img]http://thinkg.net/pit/118_files/i_love_ ... ey_sex.jpg[/img][/img]

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

Since chimps sexually "rear mount" (usually anyway) the picture is probably a dominance thing rather than an "I love you" thing. As to Muller's expectations, he should have read Jane Goodall's research. The preference for mature females was noted over 30 years ago. It was also noted that males don't exactly have "the run of the field". Alpha males "get dibs" over beta males - but only if the female likes them. Females were noted to prefer males who were nice to their previous/existing babies, even if the male in question wasn't top status. The female gets the "round robin" of the males available and desired - males only get "half-a-dozen willing partners" if half-a-dozen females hit estrous at the same time. Chimps don't mate outside the estrous cycle.

Muller is obviously bringing a large set of pro-human assumptions to his research. I'm surprised he didn't fudge the results, instead of just suggesting that the preference for mature females is "a derived human trait, probably due to the tendency to form long-term relationships between couples." If anything, the tendency to hit on immature/less mature females would logically be the result of either a sick society (which ours is) or a lack of tendency to maintain long-term relationships (i.e., the stereotypical middle-aged male who "trades in" wife #1 for a younger and showier model).