10 of 11

Write now Article Tools

Chimpanzees may be the closest things to a human, but their taste in women is the total opposite. Baggy eyes and a wrinkled face is the look the male chimps are looking far. If you are a lady chimp and have smooth features and a firm back side, you are probably going to be single for a long time. Anthropologists have observed mating habits from several groups of chimps in Africa and have discovered that nine times out of ten the male chimps go for the uglier older chimpanzee females. Why you ask? The answer is not as bizarre as your would think it was.

Older females are more socially dominant in the group. Even if she is ugly, the older female chimp has status within her group and will gain more privileges than the younger chimps. The males want that status to. So hooking up with a old lady is the way to do it. The older female chimps, due to their status, have more access to food and have the right to take it away from young chimps, male and female. What more can you ask for, you get to look at an ugly face all day but you get all the bananas you want. The need to be with the older women overcomes the chimps' usually docile attitude. They will actually fight to be with the old ones.

Female chimpanzees can remain fertile their entire lives. That means that the change of life for the female chimp will never come. She will go into a season every month and can produce as many offspring as she can. She is a more mature mother than the younger female chimps and can take care of the off spring better. The males want their young to survive, so this is an added bonus for the male. Survivability of their off spring will again raise status in group and give both the male and female more power in the fight for food and the fight for mates.

Paris Hilton needs to watch herself. If human males took on the attitude of the chimpanzee, then Paris would not be in the running of any beauty contest. Phyllis Diller or Rosanne Barr might have a better chance at the title. As far human females being able to conceive all their lives, I think that any mother in the world would vote for a no on that one. Though older mothers do exist, the majority of the mothers would rather back out of that option.

Learn more about this author, Don Rainwater.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about How animals recognize each other?
We want to hear your view. Write now!