National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Female Flies Put Up a Fight to Keep Sex Short


Email to a Friend	<< Back to Full Story

Female Drosophila montana fruit flies (pictured, another species of fruit fly) prefer to keep sex short and sweet, while males like it to last longer, scientists said in August 2009.

That's because females see a reproductive benefit from shorter sex: When mating lasts longer, female flies have less time to mate again with a different male, if they do so at all.

Photograph by Oxford Scientific, PhotoLibrary