Does Brain Size Affect Testicle Size in Bats?

[iansmith]

Big brain means small ...

Big brain means small testes, finds bat study

* 12:16 07 December 2005
* NewScientist.com news service
* Gaia Vince


The brainier male bats are, the smaller their testicles, according to a new study. Researchers suggest the correlation exists because both organs require a lot of energy to grow and maintain, leading individual species to find the optimum balance.

The analysis of 334 species of bat found that in species where the females were promiscuous, the males had evolved larger testes but had relatively small brains. In species, where the females were monogamous, the situation was reversed. Male fidelity appeared to have no influence over testes or brain size.

Both brain tissue and sperm cells require a lot of metabolic energy to produce and maintain. The different species appear to have evolved a preference for developing one organ more than the other, presumably determined by which will help them produce more offspring.

“An extraordinary range of testes mass was documented across bat species - from 0.12% to 8.4% of body mass. That exceeds the range of any other mammalian order,” says Scott Pitnick, from Syracuse University in New York, US, one of the research team. Primate testes vary between species from 0.02% and 0.75% of body mass.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8430

 

[Moonbear]

Interesting...and really tough resisting the very obvious jokes that result from this.

 

[cronxeh]

Interesting...and really tough resisting the very obvious jokes that result from this.

Why don't you give it a try, doc

 

[Mk]

The brainier male bats are, the smaller their testicles,

This is how tribdog gets laid.