sexy son hypothesis
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.75 in modern English
38
Scrabble Score
17
Letters
5
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The hypothesis, in evolutionary biology, that a female animal's optimal choice among potential mates is a male whose genes will produce male offspring with the best chance of reproductive success, irrespective of the mate's capacity as a caregiver or any other direct benefits he can offer.
Example Sentences
- "Enter the sexy son hypothesis, which says that the peahen was selected to prefer fancy-plumed peacocks because this would increase the chances that her male offspring would inherit a comparably impressive tail and would therefore be especially attractive to the next generation of peahens."
Etymology
Coined by P. J. Weatherhead and R. J. Robertson in a paper published in The American Naturalist (1979).