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This is an example of indirect genetic benefits received by the choosy sex, because mating with such individuals will result in high-quality offspring. The indicator traits hypothesis is split into three highly related subtopics: the handicap theory of sexual selection, the good genes hypothesis, and the Hamilton–Zuk hypothesis.
Some chromosomal sex determination systems in animals. A sex-determination system is a biological system that determines the development of sexual characteristics in an organism. [1] Most organisms that create their offspring using sexual reproduction have two common sexes and a few less common intersex variations.
This is because mammals have imprinted genetic regions, where either the maternal or the paternal chromosome is inactivated in the offspring for development to proceed normally. A mammal developing from parthenogenesis would have double doses of maternally imprinted genes and lack paternally imprinted genes, leading to developmental abnormalities.
In humans and many other species of animals, the father determines the sex of the child. In the XY sex-determination system, the female-provided ovum contributes an X chromosome and the male-provided sperm contributes either an X chromosome or a Y chromosome, resulting in female (XX) or male (XY) offspring, respectively.
As Ronald Fisher noted, the male offspring will inherit the ornament while the female offspring will inherit the preference for said ornament, which can lead to a positive feedback loop known as a Fisherian runaway. These structures serve as cues to animal sexual behaviour, that is, they are sensory signals that affect mating responses ...
Elephants can use their ears as threat displays in male-to-male competition. Sexual selection in mammals is a process the study of which started with Charles Darwin's observations concerning sexual selection, including sexual selection in humans, and in other mammals, [1] consisting of male–male competition and mate choice that mold the development of future phenotypes in a population for a ...
This occurs because the species is more focused on survival than on reproduction, causing a shift into a less ornate state. [dubious – discuss] Consequently, sexual dimorphism has important ramifications for conservation. However, sexual dimorphism is not only found in birds and is thus important to the conservation of many animals.
Genetic incompatibility describes the process by which mating yields offspring that are nonviable, prone to disease, or genetically defective in some way. In nature, animals can ill afford to devote costly resources for little or no reward, ergo, mating strategies have evolved to allow females to choose or otherwise determine mates which are more likely to result in viable offspring.