大千世界:你不知道的另類的擇偶觀

Wolf Spider Mating Choices

Well, you know what they say. A woman will marry the man who reminds her of her father, and a man will marry a woman who reminds him of his mother.

Well we're hardly the only animals to choose mates based on our early social interactions. In fact, though worlds away from us as a species, some female wolf spiders also make their mating choices on the basis of familiarity.

Male wolf spiders run the gamut in physical appearance. They can vary in color and in hairiness. What's interesting is that there isn't a general preferred look among females, but instead, females prefer males who look like males they encountered when they were young and sexually immature.

In fact, some female wolf spiders prefer familiarity to the extent that they will often eat a male suitor that doesn't fit that profile. The wider her range of familiarity with different looking males, the more discriminating a female is, and thus more likely to devour a male who looks unfamiliar.

The influence social experience has on the female wolf spider's mating choice is almost unheard of among invertebrates. This spider challenges what we thought we knew about arachnids and invertebrates.

人們常說，女人會嫁給讓她想起自己父親的男人，男人會娶讓他想起自己母親的女人。

當然，人類並不是唯一以早期的社會交往爲基礎選擇配偶的物種。實際上，同看整個世界，除了人類這一物種外，雌性狼蛛也是以熟悉程度來選擇配偶的。

從外形上看，雄性狼蛛形形色色。他們的顏色及絨毛都各不相同。有趣的是，雌性狼蛛在選擇配偶時根本沒有什麼偏愛的外形特徵。相比而言，雌性狼蛛更喜歡選擇那些看起來像是她們在年輕的時候或尚未性成熟時所遇到過的雄性狼蛛作爲配偶。

事實上，雌性狼蛛偏愛“熟人”已經到了這樣的地步——她們通常會將那些陌生的“追求者”吃掉。雌性狼蛛所碰到的外形不同的雄性狼蛛越多，她的辨識能力越強，她吃掉外形陌生的雄性狼蛛的機率就越高。

在無脊椎動物這一羣體中，社會經驗對雌性狼蛛擇偶的影響可說是聞所未聞的。狼蛛的這一特性也挑戰了人類對蛛形綱動物及無脊椎動物的認知。