When times are tough, women tend naturally to abort a higher percentage of male fetuses. Researchers call it culling, but they don't know why it
occurs.
This much is known: During times of social or economic stress, a woman's liver tends produces more of a hormone called cortisol that proves so
damaging to male fetuses they actually kick out in response to it. Female fetuses, more vital on the whole, seem relatively unaffected by the
cortisol.
One theory states that damage to male fetuses is a side effect of this hormonal stress response.
But in a new study, researchers provide evidence for the other theory, that the body is purposely culling the males by pumping out cortisol in an
effort to get rid of a child-to-be that is less likely to survive the presumably difficult situation outside the womb.
SOURCE:
LiveScience
This was a rather.....interesting report to read.
I always suspected that nature prefered females, and now it appears it may well be true.
Evolutionary it does make alot of sense.
I wonder if eventually males will be taken out of the (evolutionary/biological reproduction) picture all together..disturbing thought.
Opionions? Comments?
EDIT: Corrected spelling errors.
[edit on 1/24/2006 by iori_komei]
