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You look fly, son!
20 November 2007
Attractive fathers produce attractive sons, in the insect world at least, new research has shown.
Researchers from the University of Exeter examined on fruit flies, pairing up males and females at random
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They measured the speed with which the flies mated, determining attractiveness in relation to the speed of consummation. The flies took between two minutes and two hours to mate.
Family trees were then explored in terms of mating popularity of the males. It was found that fathers who had more success mating were likely to have sons who inherited this success.
Dr David Hosken, from the University of Exeter, said: "Attractiveness probably can't be defined by individual characteristics, so there is no single physical attribute that female fruit flies are looking for in a mate.
"However, there is clearly a benefit to females in having sexy sons that are more likely to attract a mate and produce offspring."
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