Scientists described on Tuesday how these females employ an anti-aphrodisiac chemical known as a pheromone during a three-day period critical for raising offspring to tell the male she is temporary infertile and prevent him from trying to copulate.
The study focused on a beetle species, Nicrophorus vespilloides, known for burying carcasses of small animals like birds and rodents as food for their larvae. It provides insight into how animals change their behavior to provide care for their young, in this instance favoring parenting over sexual activity to produce new offspring.
"Our study helps to understand animal family life and how it is coordinated between family members," said biologist Sandra Steiger of Germany's University of Ulm, who led the study published in the journal Nature Communications.
"It is kind of intriguing that such mechanisms exist in animals and that animal parents synchronize their mating and parental-care behavior for their own benefit and that of the children," Steiger added.
Burying beetles are found mainly in temperate regions of Europe, Asia and North America. The species in this study is up to about eight-tenths of an inch long (2 cm) with a black body marked with bright orange patches. (Full Story)
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