Sperm travel faster for attractive females

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Gawdzilla Sama
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Sperm travel faster for attractive females

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:23 pm

Sperm travel faster for attractive females

Jennifer Viegas
Discovery News

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New research found that males can adjust the speed and effectiveness of their sperm, based on whether they find their mate attractive.

The study, conducted on red junglefowl, a director ancestor of chickens, adds to the growing body of evidence that males from promiscuous species, including humans, increase the chances of fertilisation when the female is deemed to be attractive.

But what makes a desirable female red junglefowl?

"Female attractiveness is determined by the expression of a sexual ornament - the comb - which is phenotypically and genetically correlated to the number and mass of eggs females lay," according to study co-authors Dr Charlie Cornwallis of the University of Oxford and the Royal Veterinary College's Dr Emily O'Connor.

For the study, published in the current Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the researchers collected natural ejaculates from dominate and subordinate red junglefowl males housed at the University of Stockholm. The males had either just mated with attractive or unattractive females.

The scientists next separated the sperm from the seminal fluid and analysed the quantity and characteristics of both.
Double firing

"There was a strong relationship between sperm velocity and the volume of the ejaculate sperm came from," write Cornwallis and O'Connor, adding that males allocated "larger ejaculates to attractive females."

The mechanism behind this remains a mystery for now, but the scientists have an intriguing theory.

"Males may alter the velocity of sperm they allocate to copulations by strategically firing their left and right ejaculatory ducts, which can operate independently," they explain.

Stimulation from sexy, attractive females, therefore, leads to the double firing.

"Furthermore," they add, "differential firing of left and right ejaculatory ducts may contribute to how males strategically change the number of sperm in their ejaculates, a phenomenon that is widespread, but for which the mechanism remains unknown."
Speedy sperm

Similar findings were recently determined for African cichlid fish, whose males produce speedier sperm when females mate with many males in quick succession.

Dr John Fitzpatrick of the University of Western Australia led the fish study while he was a graduate student at McMaster University.

"The first step in producing more competitive sperm was by influencing how much energy the sperm can produce," says Fitzpatrick. "Just like a mechanic could make a car drive faster by installing a better engine, evolution appears to act first on the engine that drives sperm movement."

While much of this process, including detection of attractive females, can occur on a subliminal basis, human males hoping to improve their fertility would be wise to not smoke marijuana, which University of Buffalo research shows reduces amounts of seminal fluid and lowers total sperm counts.

At the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, Australian obstetrician and gynecologist Dr David Greening announced his finding that daily sex, or ejaculation, for seven days improves men's sperm quality.

He suggest it reduces the amount of DNA damage, since lengthy exposure to oxygen in the testicular ducts may harm cells.

Both Greening and the British scientists hope future research will better identify how males adjust the sperm and seminal fluid in their ejaculates, and how this affects fertility rates.

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Re: Sperm travel faster for attractive females

Post by Kristie » Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:34 pm

That explains why I got pregnant so easily with my first child, and then after gaining weight, it took 7 months to conceive my second child. :ddpan:
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Re: Sperm travel faster for attractive females

Post by Tigger » Fri Jul 10, 2009 6:43 pm

FIO wrote:That explains why I got pregnant so easily with my first child, and then after gaining weight, it took 7 months to conceive my second child. :ddpan:
I have no sperm so I will undertake a control experiment if you like. Your cooperation is appreciated.
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Re: Sperm travel faster for attractive females

Post by cowiz » Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:06 pm

When I mail my sperm to attractive females, it seems to take an age to get there :lay:
It's a piece of piss to be cowiz, but it's not cowiz to be a piece of piss. Or something like that.

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Re: Sperm travel faster for attractive females

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:07 pm

pawiz wrote:When I mail my sperm to attractive females, it seems to take an age to get there :lay:
Yeah, and they don't appreciate school-age items arriving in the mail. :euphemism:
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Re: Sperm travel faster for attractive females

Post by cowiz » Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:26 pm

Gawdzilla wrote:
pawiz wrote:When I mail my sperm to attractive females, it seems to take an age to get there :lay:
Yeah, and they don't appreciate school-age items arriving in the mail. :euphemism:
But when I send my "samples" to ugly birds, it seems to get there right away. My sample sent to Margaret Thatcher was delivered to same day! Theory debunked!!!
It's a piece of piss to be cowiz, but it's not cowiz to be a piece of piss. Or something like that.

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