14 DAY TRIAL // Are you jealous because your man spends too much time with his pals?
You should not, as nature shows us.
The habit of gathering with those of the same gender is more common than thought. Or at least sexes avoid each other. Scientists call sexual segregation the behavior of males and females of occupying different habitats after the mating season and it is normal in most species, from monkeys to bears and from albatrosses to insects.
The bear females (and those of other carnivores, too) isolate themselves before giving birth, as males usually have an infanticide behavior. Elephant seals not only travel separatly during their annual migrations in unisex groups, but the sexes have a completely different diet.
This has been also seen in other marine mammals too, like humpback whales and dolphins, whose females stay after birth with the offspring far away from the males. Elephants and kangaroos also live in unisex groups. In elephants, males roam through different habitats during the dry season while females stay near rivers and when the rainy season arrives, the females are those which execute more movements.
Bats also experience sexual segregation. In Europe, male bats live at higher altitudes and, during cool periods in the summertime, they enter in lethargy (temporal hibernation). Bat females live in lower altitudes as if they had to pass through lethargy in cold nights, they would put on risk their pregnancy or offspring.
Sometimes sexual segregation is a striking necessity for the species, as the females eat the males, like in many spiders and praying mantis.
In plant lice there is a sexual segregation just because, till autumn, there are no males: during the active period there are just females that reproduce through parthenogenesis (virgin females lay unfertilized viable eggs).
In bee families, males are chased away from their native hive by the working females.
Even in plants may occur sexual segregation: there are species with separated male and female flowers, which even develop in a different timing, in order to avoid autopollination.
One of the most surprising examples of sexual segregation by which scientists are still puzzled is found on mice.
They are separated by sexes even from womb: the males in one side of the uterus and the females in the other.
Researchers noticed that, in mammals, sexual segregation tends to be correlated somehow by the size difference between the sexes. When the difference is higher than 20 %, the sexes live separated. In zebras, the sexes are very similar in size, that's way it makes no sense to live separately, as they are equally vulnerable to predators (lions). In fact, they are so sociable that, in their groups, they will tolerate crowned cranes, ostriches, and wildebeests.
But in the case of Kudu antelopes (photo bellow), where males are 25 cm higher than females and bear huge horns, they live segregated from females, which are much more vulnerable to predators. In giraffes, males reach 5.5 m high, while females are 1 m shorter. That's why males eat shoots above 4 m, while females and offspring (which are 2 m at birth) are restricted to shoots between the height of 2 to 4 m.
The gender segregation also occurs in wild goats and sheep, as wild rams and bucks double the size of their females. Despite this, in insects with obvious sexual dimorphism, like stick insects (photo above), where female are three times larger than the males, the sexual segregation does not occur.
Another theory is related to habitat, reflecting different life necessities for males and females. Lactating females need food with a certain protein value and they choose their habitat according to this.
Another factor would be that mothers with offspring, which are more vulnerable and seek for a more secure environment. In the same Kudu, males are hunted especially by lions, while the females by leopards, that's why every gender seeks a habitat with less predators of their own.
Other explanation is related to energy requirements and activity levels in different species. In this case, males and females pass different periods in activity or resting. In albatrosses and giant petrels, both males and females have different fishing areas.
Scientists found that human fishing activity concentrates in the fishing areas of the females, which unfortunately rises the mortality toll amongst females, biasing the sex ratio and menacing the species. In chimpanzees, there is also a sexual segregation, which is not determined by habitat, but by behavior. Males are much stronger than females and more active: they are in constant move and organize hunting sessions in which the whole group cooperates. Female chimpanzees are more static and learn how to use tools. That's how the culture of "termites fishing" or "nuts cracking" emerged. Females are clearly more skillful than males.
The ape sexual segregation most probably produced the sexual labor segregation in humans (see article bellow): in primitive societies of hunters-gatherers, females specialize in gathering vegetal food and small animals why males use their physical power to hunt large game.
Evolutionists say this ensured the success of our own species against other species of ancient humans.
