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Natural Selection and Mating Preferences

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The principle of natural selection posits that organisms better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. This principle is closely intertwined with mating preferences, a key aspect of sexual selection, which evolutionary psychologists believe is driven by instincts to propagate one's genes. Such instincts significantly influence mating behaviors and preferences between genders.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Sexual Crosses with the Mucoromycete Phycomyces blakesleeanus

Sexual Crosses with the Mucoromycete Phycomyces blakesleeanus

Published on: June 6, 2025

Good genes sexual selection in nature.

John A Byers¹, Lisette Waits

¹Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA. jbyers@uidaho.edu

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|October 25, 2006

Summary

Female pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) mate choice significantly impacts offspring survival and growth. Attractive males sire offspring with higher survival rates, demonstrating the importance of female choice for good genes.

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Area of Science:

Behavioral Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Mammalian Reproduction

Background:

Female mate sampling and choice are crucial in sexual selection.
The influence of female choice on offspring performance is debated.
Pronghorn females exhibit extensive mate sampling behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if female mate choice in pronghorns affects offspring performance.
To determine the consequences of female choice on offspring survival and growth.
To explore the role of female choice in the absence of male ornaments.

Main Methods:

Observational study of pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) mating behavior.
Tracking of offspring survival to weaning and subsequent age classes.
Analysis of offspring growth rates and maternal milk delivery rates.

Main Results:

Offspring sired by attractive males showed higher survival rates to weaning and up to 5 years of age.
Enhanced offspring survival was linked to faster growth rates.
Females with less attractive mates increased milk delivery to compensate.

Conclusions:

Female choice for 'good genes' can occur even without costly male ornaments.
Female mate choice in pronghorns significantly influences offspring fitness.
Female choice may play an unrecognized role in reducing population genetic load.