promiscuity and males

-courtesy of economist, science and technology section (my fave)-

"Lotharios everywhere will be pleased to hear that monogamy does not appear to be a natural human state...By examining the DNA of living people, Dr Hammer and his colleagues have found that far fewer men than women pass their genes on to subsequent generations. In short, a small number of men have been putting it about a lot, thus outcompeting their lesser rivals...Although a moment's thought shows the old carnard that males are actually, on average, more promiscuous than females cannot be true (since every reproductive act involves one of each) biologists have known for a long time that in most species males want to be more promiscuous than females. What holds them back is that females are choosy. And females also tend to be similar in their tastes, which means some males get chosen far more often than others...One result which did surprise the researchers was that the men's genes tend to travel further than women's...So, not only are fewer men than women procreating, but they are travelling further to sow their oats."

ROFL...