Try a little tenderness

11:04 Fri 04 January 2008

Thought taking her out and wining and dining her was an effort? Well, at least you don’t have to sort out your lady’s personal hygiene…
Such is the plight of the male macaque. These poor primates have to groom their females, detangling their fur and picking out parasites, if they want the chance to mate. The research, by Michael Gumert of the Division of Psychology at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, has been included in the publication Animal Behaviour.
Gumert writes: “the amount of grooming a male performs on a female during a sexual interaction is related to the supply/demand ratio of females per male around the male-female pair at the time of the grooming.” So if there aren’t many females, the male monkeys have to be extra attentive if they ever want to get some action.
So next time you complain about picking up the tab, think about it – you could be picking out fleas…