科学家揭示雌海狗找老公很挑剔Female seals know what they want in a mate
LONDON (Reuters) - Choosy Antarctic female fur seals go to great lengths to find the right mate.最新的科研成果显示，雌性海狗（又名“毛皮海狮”或“毛皮海豹”）在择偶时十分挑剔，它们会竭尽全力寻找最合适的配偶。
While males prefer to stay put and wait to be chosen, females are more selective and prepared to travel to find an ideal, genetically diverse partner to father their pups.
据路透社2月7日报道，雄海狗在择偶过程中处于被动地位，它们等着被雌海狗挑选；而雌海狗在择偶时更加积极主动，它们会尽力找到最理想、基因最优良的雄性作为孩子的父亲。
"Many mammals have mating systems that were traditionally viewed as being dominated by males fighting each other for the right to mate with passive females," said Dr Joe Hoffman of the University of Cambridge. "So it's not only remarkable to find that female fur seals are choosy, but this also suggests that female choice may be more widespread in nature than we previously thought."
英国剑桥大学博士霍夫曼指出：“传统观点认为，哺乳动物的交配系统总是被雄性所掌控，雄性哺乳动物为了被动但又合适的配偶会与同性拼杀。研究不但发现了雌海狗在择偶时的主动性，也预示着自然界雌性动物在择偶时远比人们想象的积极。”
Hoffman and scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), who reported their findings in the science journal Nature on Wednesday, discovered the unusual mating patterns while studying a colony of the seals on the island of South Georgia.
霍夫曼博士和来自英国南极考察队的科学家在研究南乔治亚岛的海豹群时发现了海狗这一不寻常的择偶现象。
To avoid inbreeding with the less adventurous males, female seals would travel up to 35 metres (yards) to find a fitter mate to give the next generation the best chance of surviving.Hoffman and his team believe the females size up potential mates by assessing their physique, behaviour and even their smell.
为了避免亲近交配，为了给下一代最好的遗传基因，雌海狗会游到35米远的地方寻找更适合的配偶。霍夫曼博士和他的研究小组相信，雌海狗通过评估雄海狗的体型、行为甚至体味来判断是否是有可能合适自己的配偶。
"The behaviours that we observe will impact upon the genetic diversity of fur seal populations and may have helped them recover so successfully from near extinction only 100 years ago," said Hoffman. "This could in turn affect how well they respond to future challenges such as climate change," he added in a statement.
霍夫曼说：“我们观察到的海狗行为将影响海狗基因的多样性，这也可能是它们在100年前濒临灭绝又重新繁盛的原因。此外，雌海狗的挑剔择偶有可能帮助它们面对气候变化等未来的挑战。” :loveliness:
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