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