Or perhaps practice is the key to being a good mate, and females will always pick the male they know has put in some hours. Maybe the females assume that the male’s previous partner had discovered some inconspicuous yet crucial quality that made him a superior mate. Perhaps the sight of unabashed sexual congress drive the females into a frenzy of passion. There are a couple of theories as to why this happens. When a group of females are separated and allowed to watch a male and female going at it, that male is generally quite popular with the ladyfish when everyone is allowed to mingle again this holds true even after more males are introduced. Generally a female guppy is attracted to a male with more color, but they found if a female is given the choice between a lonely but very colorful male and a lesser-colored but actively mating male, she’ll go against norms and choose the male with less color. In 1996 when this effect was first identified, a myriad of cruel scenarios were introduced to discover what was happening-for some reason, many scientists have a keen interest in finding out what makes individuals more attractive to the opposite sex. Why are the females all lining up to mate with a small, eclectic group of males? Is there a subtle physical difference that the females are basing their choices upon? Is there something in their social countenance? Are some of the males just too smart to make good mates? As is true with most species, it is the females who determine who gets to score, and an odd thing occurs: despite the fact that the males are all pretty much alike, some guys get all the luck, and others are spurned. It doesn’t take too long for the guppies to get adjusted to the new environment and, like any society, they soon begin mating. To observe the effect one takes a large tank filled with female guppies, and adds about the same number of relatively indistinguishable male guppies. Perhaps it is more properly called mate-choice copying. The animal kingdom analog of the wedding ring effect is called the guppy syndrome because it was in the guppy that it was first documented. It is weighty philosophical matters like these which have plagued civilization since its inception, but like so many of the great riddles, the answer may be found in a fish-in this case in a little matter called guppy syndrome. There is also the possibility that the increase in feminine attention is purely imagined, a way for a married man to reassure himself that he’s still got “it” (or for that matter, that he ever had “it” to begin with). Some suggest that the wedding ring is a cue that a man is “safe,” a passing opportunity for empty flirting while others theorize that the female psyche sees the ring as an indication that another woman has deemed him worthy. This observation is known as the wedding ring effect, and there are numerous competing theories as to why it may be. It has long been observed- though not scientifically- that women seem to show a vague preference for men who are already spoken for.
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