Did men evolve navigation skill to find mates?

[cronus]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 074833.htm

Did men evolve navigation skill to find mates?

A University of Utah study of two African tribes found evidence that men evolved better navigation ability than women because men with better spatial skills -- the ability to mentally manipulate objects -- can roam farther and have children with more mates.

By testing and interviewing dozens of members of the Twe and Tjimba tribes in northwest Namibia, the anthropologists showed that men who did better on a spatial task not only traveled farther than other men but also had children with more women, according to the study published this week in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.
"It's the first time anybody has tried to draw a line between spatial ability, navigation, range size and reproductive success. Most of this chain has been assumed in the scientific literature," says Layne Vashro, the study's first author and a postdoctoral researcher in anthropology.

Anthropology professor Elizabeth Cashdan, the study's senior author, says, "Some of the links have been demonstrated, but this study looks at the whole chain and that's what is novel about it."
"Among the most consistent sex differences found in the psychological literature are spatial ability and navigation ability, with men better at both," Vashro says. "In the anthropological literature, one of the most consistent behavioral differences between men and women is the distance they travel. This difference in traveling is assumed to explain the observed differences in spatial ability and navigation ability. Now, we've drawn a link between spatial ability and range size."
There is a demonstrated relationship between sex differences in how far some mammals -- including voles and deer mice -- range or travel, and sex differences in their spatial and navigation abilities. But until now, little has been known about this relationship in humans, Vashro adds.

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[mistermack]

I would say that it's pretty obvious that a male will generally have a bigger range than females.

Males don't normally have to drag along one or two babies, so they can travel farther, and survive better on meagre rations, than the average female with young.

Also, you often find in primates, that the females and young live in big social groups, whereas the males spend more time alone or in small groups. So females follow the herd, whereas males have to find their own way around.

[JimC]

The route to a root theory...

[cronus]

The route to a root theory...

What, or who, are they expecting to find on comet? Must be hot?

[JimC]

Alien sex is the bestest...

[klr]

Maps? We don't need no steenkin' maps.

[laklak]

I think we evolved navigation skills to find the shitter in the dark.

[mistermack]

I think we evolved navigation skills to find the shitter in the dark.

I doubt it. Back in those days, you just had to follow your nose.

[laklak]

Da nose knows! Hachachachachacha!

[Hermit]

My navigation skills are not very male then. The first time I set out for Queensland from Sydney necessitated going right through the middle of Newcastle. No ring roads or even a continuous main road then, and signage wasn't what it ought have been either. I finally cleared that horrible city, but when I saw a sign indicating that Sydney was only another 140 kilometres ahead of me, I realised that I had taken a wrong turn somewhere. This sort of thing happened to me more than once. I got a bumper sticker that read: "Don't follow me. I'm lost too." Also, it makes me wonder how I managed to make a living as a truck driver.

Mind you, the lack of navigational skills has not impaired my ability for finding mates. Half the time I didn't even need to move. They found me.

Also: Fuck evolutionary psychology/behaviourism/whatever. It's the biggest crock of shit after theism, fascism and lolbertardianism.

[Tero]

Not only do you need navigation skills to impregnate the females in your territory. You also need herbal pills, like Bill Cosby, when you get the female to lie down on the couch.

[laklak]

Didn't need no pills back in the day, just bang them on the head with your club and drag them into the cave. Drag them by the hair, not the feet. If you drag them by their feet their minge fills up with dirt.

[Tero]

Well sure. But now that we still have navigating skills and clubs are out...

[L'Emmerdeur]

Da nose knows! Hachachachachacha!

Redundant "cha" spotted.

[Clinton Huxley]

Men evolved navigation skills so they could find somewhere quiet to sit and drink.