What a beautiful cover… Battle of the sexes: a multi-male mating strategy helps lionesses win the gender war of fitness | Behavioral Ecology | Oxford Academic … :
“By mating with multiple males, lionesses safeguard their investments and outdo the males in the war of fitness.”
“Battle of the sexes: a multi-male mating strategy helps lionesses win the gender war of fitness”
“Given a land-tenure system where lionesses encounter many males capable of killing unfamiliar cubs, multi-male mating buffers cub infanticide and likely diversifies paternal lineages in litters. Consequently, infanticide was observed only when “new” males invaded a female group’s territory. An age-based mate choice was observed in lionesses: maiden breeders chose males having highest range overlaps, whereas experienced females selected peripheral males. The intergender spacing patterns and resultant sexual strategies of lions differ in Asia and Africa probably because of contrasting resource availability, highlighting behavioral plasticity within species inhabiting diverse eco-regions.”