the four right chords can make me cry

ok, this is all i've got for my biosem project so far. in my defense, i would like to say that at least i have finished most of my research and know what i want to say.

Mating season is an important period for any animal, and huge amounts of energy, time and resources are directed to achieve successful mating. Considering that there are heavy implications on reproductive success, it is not surprising that animals do not mate randomly but exercise some sort of discrimination. This is especially crucial in penguins where both the male and female contribute heavy parental investment to every batch of offspring. Nevertheless, apparent mistakes do occur from time to time. Penguins, especially those kept in captivity, have been reported to exhibit “homosexual” behavior; that is, members of the same sex are observed to form pair bonds and even attempt to copulate and brood eggs. Since most penguin species do not exhibit sexual dimorphism and can only be sexed by genetic analysis, this phenomenon may not have been detected in earlier research, and consequently, there are insufficient field studies investigating the matter. In this paper, I propose that penguins, in particular the species Pygoscelis Antarctica, identify members of the opposite sex largely by behavioral differences as opposed to physical characteristics.

posted by beckyboo @ 3:25 AM