Why is it always males that get eaten during sex?

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Thinking about switching to tech? TripleTen helps people go from zero experience to real tech jobs. Book a free career call to find out which role fits you best: https://get.tripleten.com/kSXU In the middle of baby-making, a female praying mantis will sometimes chomp down on a male’s head, then devour him as she finishes mating with him. And mantises aren’t alone; many different species lunch on their lovers. But one thing is remarkably consistent: it’s almost always the females doing the eating. Why is it dudes that always end up as dinner? LEARN MORE ************** To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: - Sexual cannibalism: the practice of consuming a mate directly before, during, or after mating - Aggressive spillover: the idea that aggression that's favored for early in life can be maladaptive in a mating situation SUPPORT MINUTEEARTH ************************** If you like what we do, you can help us!: - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share this video with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) CREDITS ********* Kate Yoshida | Script Writer, Narrator and Director Arcadi Garcia i Rius | Storyboard Artist Sarah Berman | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation Nathaniel Schroeder | Music MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info OUR STAFF ************ Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes Henry Reich • Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida OUR LINKS ************ Youtube | https://youtube.com/MinuteEarth TikTok | https://tiktok.com/@minuteearth Twitter | https://twitter.com/MinuteEarth Instagram | https://instagram.com/minute_earth Facebook | https://facebook.com/Minuteearth Website | https://minuteearth.com Apple Podcasts| https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/minuteearth/id649211176 REFERENCES ************** Brown WD, Barry KL (2016). Sexual cannibalism increases male material investment in offspring: quantifying terminal reproductive effort in a praying mantis. Proc Biol Sci 283(1833):20160656. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.0656 Burke N (2024). Sexual cannibalism as a female resistance trait: a new hypothesis, Evolution (78)4: 612–623, https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpae017 Hunter P (2023). Ultimate sacrifice or opportunistic foraging?: The selective forces behind sexual cannibalism: The selective forces behind sexual cannibalism. EMBO 24(2):e56764. https://doi.org/10.15252/embr.202356764 Sentenská L, Pekár S (2013). Mate with the young, kill the old: reversed sexual cannibalism and male mate choice in the spider Micaria sociabilis (Araneae: Gnaphosidae). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 67, 1131–1139. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-013-1538-1 Zuk M (2016). Mates with Benefits: When and How Sexual Cannibalism Is Adaptive. Current Biology 26(23):R1230-R1232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.10.017