Sex and Reward Hypothesis
Schroder reviews a hypothesis by Symons' and Hill's that hunting males exchanged meat for sex with females. Females who continuously mimicked estrus may have benefited from more meat than those who did not. If this occurred with enough frequency, then a definite period of estrus would have been lost, and, with it, sexual signaling specific to ovulation would have disappeared.
Read more about this topic: Concealed Ovulation
Famous quotes containing the words reward and/or hypothesis:
“People think that if a man has undergone any hardship, he should have a reward; but for my part, if I have done the hardest possible day’s work, and then come to sit down in a corner and eat my supper comfortably—why, then I don’t think I deserve any reward for my hard day’s work—for am I not now at peace? Is not my supper good?”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“On pragmatistic principles, if the hypothesis of God works satisfactorily in the widest sense of the word, it is true.”
—William James (1842–1910)