Do warriors get the girl? According to researchers from three universities in California, who studied why evolution has not developed men into super-aggressive types, there is more to the mating process than just destroying the others in competition. This study was published in the open journal PLoS ONE.

Studying fruit flies, the scientists from University of Southern California, Cal State University in Sacramento and the University of California, Davis, USA, found that even though females choose males who are victorious in fights, they also go for others that do not find and choose them with no apparent reason. This can help understand aggressive behavior in human and other species.

The lead author of the project, Brad Foley (PD fellow at USC) says that “females didn’t necessarily prefer aggressive males – some males mated less when they lost fights, but some mated more if they didn’t fight. Moreover, different males preferred different males”

The investigation showed some genetic variation in aggression in males fruit flies, and say that it also applies to humans. They suggest that a possible reason for this is the fact that no fighting strategy is effective every time, so there is not a clear pattern of aggression.

“We showed in fruit flies that even the most genetically aggressive flies can have an Achilles heel, and lose against males who are (for the most part) wimps,” noted Foley.

The authors actually conclude that “unexpected interactions” between individuals are the ones that define who wins and who loses, so there is not a definitive strategy that would divide winners and losers categorically.

Source | PLoS ONE