Does Familiarity Breed Contempt? The Exotic and Attraction

People always want what they can't have-and what we can't have may tend to be something unfamiliar and exotic. A recent study addresses this theory through showing that female mice prefer unfamiliar male songs during the mating process.

New research shows that female mice are more attracted to the songs of mice that are different from their parents when choosing parents when picking a life partner. Researchers believe that these preferences may be shaped by early social experiences from fathers, according to background information from the study.

As previous findings have shown that many animals learn the characteristics of desirable mates when they are young enough to gain ability to recognize and avoid mating with close relatives, the latest findings looked to determine whether female mice could learn, remember and prefer specific male partners during certain mating song characteristics, as male mice produce ultrasonic vocalizations or songs when they encounter females.

For the study, female mice were raised with their biological father, a different father or no father at all. Researchers then recorded vocalizations or songs from four male mice-one of whom was a close relative. The female mice were then left in a cage with sections containing male songs and sexual scents. Researchers monitored their sexual mating process and found that mice demonstrated a select preference for male songs from different families.

The study may be one of the first to suggest that male songs contribute to female mating choices that prevent inbreeding.

What do you think? 

More information regarding the study can be found via the journal PLos ONE.