College Times

Issue date: 1/10/08 Section: Daily Buzz

Media Credit: iStockPhoto(dot)com

Sex sells, which is why so many men pay for it. Name your price and a prostitute will feed your vice. Recent research suggests that despite evolutionary change, some things remain the same - females are more likely to put out if men give them what they want and need.

In a study done by Michael Gumert of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, 50 long-tailed macaques were followed for 20 months in Kalimantan Tengah, Indonesia. The big discovery? That males groomed females in exchange for sex, suggesting grooming services were a type of currency.

French professor Ronald Noe said the macaques conduct their monkey business in a "biological market." He compared their mating to human dating patterns, saying: "There is a very well-known mix of economic and mating markets in the human species itself. There are many examples of rich, old men getting young, attractive ladies."

Research showed, on average, a female mated 1.5 times an hour, but when a male offered grooming services, the rate at which the female mated was 3.5 times an hour.

If there were many females present, males groomed a female for 8 minutes, but if there were fewer females present, males groomed a female for 16 minutes. This suggests men don't have to do as much wooing when females are abundant.

For the macaques and even some humans, picking, scratching and biting at a woman's back (a massage of sorts) is the preferred route to take when attracting the ladies. For others compliments, kisses and dinner dates are alternate approaches.

Either way, the truth - as The Bloodhound Gang once said - is, "You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals, so let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel."

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