Guppies Don’t Like Catcalling
And not because they’re fish
Human beings like to think we are better than everything else, but the truth is that we are just another branch of the Animal Kingdom. The only things that differentiate us from dogs, eels and rhinoceros are the facts that we have opposite thumbs and that we think in concepts — which is why our evolution now is taking so long.
Researches found out this week that in a group of fish called guppies females who are constantly harassed sexually learn how to swim faster and more efficiently. At a high cost both mental and physical, of course, but they develop ways to escape their marine equivalent of catcalling nevertheless.
The reason they do this, the research shows, is not because they want to attract even more attention or make themselves difficult; it is just because the boys are being way too insistent. The way Dr Safi Darden, one of the leaders of the study, puts it is very enlightening:
“In the wild, male guppies spend most of their time courting and coercing females in an attempt to mate with them. Most of this male attention is unwanted and females attempt to avoid males by rapidly swimming away from them during pursuits.”
Sounds familiar? That’s because the currents in the ocean are much like our streets: ladies cannot turn a corner without being invited to breed by a desperate male. The difference is that fish can’t reflect on the fact, therefore they just react to it instead of pondering over or justifying with the cultural and historical habits of their species.
What this study shows is that this kind of comportment, albeit widely spread and sometimes necessary for the survival of some species, is not actually accepted in the Animal Kingdom. Females, including guppies, would rather wait for their own time than give in to some random, insistent jackass.
No matter how “natural” some humans try to make it sound by using the argument of feral instincts, in the end coercion is only understandable (not justifiable) in beings that are unable to control fire.
