Dr. Carin Bondar - Biologist with a Twist

Animal Reproduction

Male Crickets And Katydids Provide Females With A Nuptial Gift

Male decorated crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus) and katydids (bush crickets, family Tettigoniidae) provide a nuptial gift to females called a spermatophylax. As with many nuptial gifts, it’s something for females to eat during the process of [...]
Animal Reproduction

These Butterflies Will Mate With Relatives

Far from being choosy about potential suitors, green-veined white butterfly (Pieris napi) females exhibit a complete lack of selectivity, even when it comes to mating with their relatives. This failure to discern siblings from non-siblings [...]
Animal Reproduction

Female Grey Mouse Lemurs Are Extremely Promiscuous

Our smallest primate relative, the female grey mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) is extremely promiscuous during their short breeding season (just a few days out of the year). These ladies are of a similar morphological size [...]

Grandparents And Their Impact Based On Relatedness

November 10, 2021 0

We’ve talked extensively about the importance of grandmothers. Do grandfathers contribute to their collective fitness in a parallel way to their female counterparts? So far all the data suggest that they do not. This is […]

Sperm Competition

November 3, 2021 0

Not all sperms are created equal. There is a great deal of variation in many aspects of sperm quality including morphology, mobility, and viability. As with all other aspects of biodiversity, there is tremendous selective […]

Milk-Stealing Sea Lions

October 27, 2021 0

In Stellar sea lions, misdirected care in the form of allonursing is common among first-time moms, whereas older, multiparous moms are very rough and unforgiving of unrelated juveniles that attempt to suckle from them. More […]