Mark Wieczorek
Mar 26th, 2007
Mar 26th, 2007
Infidelity ‘is natural’
According to this study, 9 out of 10 mammals that mate for life are “unfaithful” to their partner.
The eastern bluebird was considered a prime example, with male and female partners working together to build nests, incubate eggs, then feed and raise their young.
But researchers have found that the bluebirds have a sex life that rivals a television soap opera.
Patricia Adair Gowarty, a behavioural ecologist at the University of Georgia, has found that 15% to 20% of chicks cared for by a pair of bluebirds were not fathered by the male.
She found that only 10% of 180 socially monogamous species are sexually faithful.