Harassed Guppies and Promiscuous Fruit Flies

In this podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), reporters find out what sexual conflict means for female guppies, how female promiscuity may be a good thing and why female mongooses all give birth at the same time.

In an extreme example of sexual harassment, researchers have found that male guppies spend around 80% of their time chasing after females in a desperate bid to mate with them. Dr Darren Croft and Dr Safi Darden from the University of Exeter explain why females that are harassed the most may actually have better social skills than their less attractive peers.

Later, Professor Nina Wedell explains why female promiscuity may keep a population viable. Nina's work on fruit flies demonstrates that so-called sperm competition controls the number of selfish genes in a population and stops species from going extinct.

Lastly, Richard Hollingham explains how the butterfly got its spots, why dead corals are not necessarily a sign of ecological disaster and why for mongoose pups to survive, four or five females must synchronise when they give birth.

This podcast is dated 1 March 2010.

NERC is a part of the Research Councils UK (RCUK) partnership of research councils.