Thursday, October 17, 2013

Why does every population have a more or less equal ratio of males and females?

Why does every population have a more or less equal ratio of males to females?

Asked by: Sanchit Sachdev

Answer: For most creatures, the primary purpose of life is to propagate the species—to pass on one’s genes to the next generation. In other words, for a majority of the inhabitants of Earth, life is all about sex and reproduction. Unsurprisingly, most species are well adapted to this purpose and have developed a number of habits and traits that allow them to protect their offspring. For example, the female surinam toad has her eggs embedded into her back by the male in order to protect them from predators, and there is a frog native to South America that carries its tadpoles in its mouth (the male can carry about three dozen tadpoles in his vocal pouch).

But of course, these are some of the most obvious ways that creatures have evolved to ensure the survival of their species. Ultimately, there are more intrinsic factors that relate to species’ survival—factors that frequently get over looked or taken for granted: sex ratio.

To read the full article, see: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/why-does-every-population-have-a-more-or-less-equal-ratio-of-males-to-females/

Image source: http://rastrict.com/the-smurfs-wallpaper.html/18853-tv_movies_the_smurfs_wallpaper

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