Sperm sense

 
Published: Friday 15 December 1995

In the animal kingdom, males ofte try to mate with more females an produce more offspring. In man insects, however, the testes weaken by the time the male reaches sexuamaturity resulting in a low sperm count. But, in ant species such a Cardiocondyla nuda, there are two kinds of males -'normal' winge males and 'abnormal' large headed wingless, called ergatoid males Winged males have a limited suppi of sperms but the ergatoid males ca produce sperms throughout helT life. Ergatoid males are thu extremely aggressive, killing oth males in their attempt to possess virgin queens in their colony.

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