Can Mammal Mothers Choose The Sex Of Their Offspring?
Baboon Family Wikimedia Commons "Hmm, it seems to be a tough year for food. I believe I will have a litter of...females." There's been speculation for decades about whether gender splits among offspring are truly random. Is it really just complete chance whether you'll end up with a male or female? A new study led by a Stanford University researcher suggests that it isn't random at all--it's an evolutionary strategy. It's unclear why-or how-a mother mammal might choose to produce offspring of only one gender. But the data seems to suggest that there is indeed a valid reason to have only males or only females, and that lots and lots of animals seem to obey those reasons. The basic impulse: mothers will "choose" whichever gender is likely to produce the most grandchildren. The study looked at thousands of animals at the San Diego Zoo, because to figure out whether gender splits have an...