Lucy Cooke shows how diverse femininity is in nature in her wonderful book "Bitch - a revolutionary look at sex, evolution and the power of the feminine in the animal kingdom". An exciting read – not just with regard to the next gender debate.
Maybe you know this too. You are out with friends and there is a discussion about the roles of men and women. Assertions are made and at some point the sentence is uttered: "That's how it is in nature." Lucy Cooke shows in her book: There are hardly any fixed roles in nature, the animal world is above all one thing - diverse.
What didn't we learn in biology class? The males are primarily interested in passing on their genes as often as possible, while the females take care of raising the young. Or to put it another way: The males are active and daring, the females are more passive and caring. The point is: this view is tunnel vision, the reality is much more complex and therefore more exciting.
“In fact, there is an enormous variety of female forms and roles in nature (…), yes, including the devoted mothers, but also the female jacanas, who keep a harem of several males and leave the brood and rearing of young to them.” Lucy Cooke
The fairy tale of the passive female
Okay, you might now think that this is probably the case with jacanas, but what about mammals? In mammals, females also take on different roles. Lionesses raise their young and defend them against Cape buffalo, hyenas and male lions who do not belong to the pride. At the same time, they ensure that there is enough meat on the savannah floor. The question of whether or not a pack can survive in the long term depends primarily on their hunting skills and experience. Lionesses also mate with several males, so a litter often has several fathers. So much for passive females. But the influence of females goes much further.
The powerful principle of female choice
According to the theory of evolution, those individuals are the largest
Chances of survival that best adapt to their environment. But there was one thing that the theory of adaptive selection could not explain. What survival advantage does it give a peacock to develop magnificent plumage? The lush plumage does not help it fly or hide from its enemies. Darwin realized that this jewelry served to attract potential mates and thus increase the chance of passing on one's own genes. This is the principle of sexual evolution.
At first glance, the men are in charge here. They fluff themselves up, courtship, dance or, like the Australian bowerbirds, build elaborate bowers out of twigs. But in the end, the females decide who to choose. This means that the females decide which genes are passed on. This means they have a major influence on which external characteristics are passed on. Darwin's contemporaries were uncomfortable with so much female power, so the theory of sexual evolution did not receive much attention for a long time. It simply didn't correspond to the spirit of the times. Today it is considered secure and the selection criteria for the females hold one or two surprises. Soft factors also seem to play a role. This is shown by the courtship of the sage grouse. An observational study showed that one of the roosters named Dick had the best chances with the females.
Super roosters like Dick are not just the loudest dancers (...), they also have to react to inconspicuous cues given to them by the females. So you not only have to dance, you also have to be able to listen. Lucy Cooke
About Lucy Cooke
Lucy Cooke grew up in Sussex, England and studied zoology at Oxford with a focus on evolution and animal behavior. She works as a documentary filmmaker and presenter (BBC1, National Geographic, etc.), writes for newspapers such as the US Huffington Post and The Telegraph and gives TED talks and lectures. She received an award from National Geographic for her advocacy for “misunderstood” animals. In 2018, Malik published her book “The Amazing Truth About Animals”. www.lucycooke.tv
When both parents are female
But what about raising the young? To investigate this question, we travel to Hawaii with Lucy Cooke. Albatrosses are known to stay with one partner throughout their lives. And such a life can last 60 or 70 years. But it was only in 2008 that it was discovered that many of the pairs that biologists had observed breeding together on the Hawaiian island of Oahu were not actually made up of females and males. In more than thirty percent of the couples, both partners were female. This means that one of the females was fertilized by a male, but raised the young together with another female. Incidentally, these couples behaved no differently than mixed couples.
According to Lucy Cooke, the reason for this behavior is a lack of males. Male albatrosses are not necessarily born explorers; they like to stay close to their place of birth. The females, on the other hand, are more willing to explore and colonize more distant islands, but this leads to a shortage of males in some places.
According to Darwin's theory of evolution, the lack of males would have to be solved by strong competition between females. The albatrosses, however, have found another way: female cooperation . Another proof of how diverse evolution is. Lucy Cooke
Confirmation bias in the Victorian era We owe much of what we know about evolution to Charles Darwin. But even a century-old explorer like Darwin was a child of his time and therefore influenced by the zeitgeist of his era, the Victorian age. Lucy Cooke shows this with an unflattering anecdote. There is a tell-tale note on the back of a letter addressed to him. Before his wedding - to his cousin - he made a rather unromantic list of the pros and cons of marriage. One of the disadvantages: less time for intellectual exchange in the clubs. Advantage: Someone is waiting on the sofa when you get home. Against this background, it is not surprising that the researcher Darwin did not have much confidence in females in the animal world. |
Diversity in breeding - a successful model of evolution
Diversity is also important in raising young, as the example of albatrosses shows. In the animal world there are very different models for looking after the little ones. Sometimes it is the males who bear the brunt, for example in many fish species. It is often the females who are primarily responsible for the care and the model of joint rearing is also widespread. In some species, group members such as aunts and friends take over the care, for example in primates.
Shared care seems to have played an important role in evolution. Researchers such as American anthropologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy believe that communal care fostered offspring that were good at begging for care from different individuals. This in turn has given rise to the evolution of our unique ability to empathize, cooperate and empathize with the thinking of others. What is now certain is that the intelligence of primates did not evolve to use tools, but rather to be able to deal with complex social relationships.
In Hrdy's version of human evolution, it was not hunting or warfare, but rather the sharing of responsibility for caring for children that developed the capacity for collective thought and action in emotionally modern humans. Lucy Cooke
And I think that's a nice final word given the current state of the world.
