Promiscuity ‘breeds better offspring’

Experts from four universities examined the behaviour of an ancestor of the domestic chicken and found that mating with different males helped females produce offspring that are more resistant to disease.

Prof David S Richardson, from the University of East Anglia, said: “Our research has shown that the females don’t need to choose between males to produce the most healthy offspring.

“Rather by mating with multiple males, they allow their internal choice mechanism to favour the most genetically different sperm.

“This could be the case in other animals – including humans, however the practicality of testing this in mammals would be very difficult, and obviously impossible in humans for ethical reasons.”

Researchers studied red junglefowl using both natural matings and artificial insemination in a project with universities in Oxford, Stockholm and Linkoping.

They claim the effect is down to “cryptic female choice” – where an internal mechanism in the reproductive tract favours the sperm from males that are most genetically different to them.