The 'escape' mates

Gender conflict is a phenomenon not only in people. Scientists at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) have discovered a female snail that tries to hide its gender to " escape " the males.

Two Littorina saxatilis sea snails are mating. (Photo tuoitre)

Most female snails secrete mucus on their way so that males can find them, because male snails can distinguish traces of females and other males. Males will follow the snail's back path to find mate mate. However, one of the sea snail species (Littorina saxatilis) has stopped marking their mucus.

The consequence of this is that females will mate less, because males will spend twice as much time to find females. This is a strange phenomenon, quite surprising, because it has long been believed that females attract mates to mate.

Professor of ecology, Kerstin Johannesson, the lead author of the study, said: " We found that mating is costly for children, because they mate enough to fertilize all eggs. theirs '.

Today, science has proven that evolution has supported the same gender disguise: females who have the ability to hide sex often have a higher chance of survival than other females . ' Mating as much as possible for males, because that's the only way they guarantee the number of females. But for females who frequently have sex, their survival will be affected, especially during pregnancy . '

Some other breeds like the damself (a species similar to a dragonfly but different in size and wings) also seek to hide gender by " disguising " colors just like males.