rising@utzoo.uucp (Jim Rising) (01/11/88)
First a question, then a comment. The question, How do yoy know that a male duck is on autopilot--and a male human isn't? Comment: Concerning orangutans. Although it certainly may in effect be "useful to the species" for young males to occasionally copulate with adult females, presumably the females permit this because it is adaptively useful to themselves--perhaps for the reason suggested (the old, dominant male may be sterile. To imply that the behaviour exists because it is adaptive to the species is teleological. --Jim Rising -- Name: Jim Rising Mail: Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A1 UUCP: {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!rising