The biggest sperm come in the smallest packages

[JackLuis]

Interesting facts about "The Little Swimmers".

The biggest sperm come in the smallest packages – and other surprising facts about male sex cells

Tiny animals can have massive sperm

Sperm length varies by several orders of magnitude across species, from the tiny sperm of the porcupine (0.0003 cm) to the gigantic sperm of the fruit fly (6 cm), which is more than 20 times the length of the fly. The fruit fly’s sperm looks like a wound-up ball of string that unravels once inside the female’s even longer reproductive tract.

The number of sperm produced by different animals also varies enormously. Humans produce approximately 100 million sperm per ejaculate, while rams can produce 100 billion. Groups of sperm can even work together. Sperm in some species are known to team up and form a “train” that swims faster than individual sperm.
Promiscuous females mean more sperm

Much of the variation we see in the size, shape and number of sperm produced by different species is thought to be the product of competition for fertilisation among the sperm of different males. This is a type of sexual selection, only relatively recently described, known as “sperm competition”. In species whose females mate most promiscuously, there is strong pressure on males to invest more heavily in sperm, to ensure that one of their own little soldiers is the one that wins the battle for fertilisation.

This has led to an extraordinary array of different warfare tactics. These species, in general, produce more sperm, as more soldiers on the ground gives you a numerical advantage. It may also be advantageous to produce bigger sperm, which are faster and able to outcompete the sperm of other males in the race to the eggs.

And how about this?

Manlier males have lower quality sperm

As sperm can be costly for the body to produce and resources are limited, males can also face trade-offs between producing sperm and other characteristics useful for reproduction. For example, species in which males invest more in big bodies and horns, or deep voices have been shown to produce less sperm.

In humans, men with more attractive voices have been shown to have worse quality sperm. It seems that males are faced with a trade-off between investing in traits that are useful for competing with rivals, or those that increase the chance of fertilising an egg. They can’t have everything.

 

[49greg]

So the big Charles Atlas guy on the beach that kicks sand in the face of the 90 pound weakling is less likely to have children than said 90 pound weakling?

Sounds interesting. Could be a story there. Even another story in the sci fi genre with some future breeder capable of squirting out a two foot long sperm into his lucky missus.

The bit about females that do a lot of mating is also interesting.

 

[R. Richard]

Quote:

Manlier males have lower quality sperm

As sperm can be costly for the body to produce and resources are limited, males can also face trade-offs between producing sperm and other characteristics useful for reproduction. For example, species in which males invest more in big bodies and horns, or deep voices have been shown to produce less sperm.

In humans, men with more attractive voices have been shown to have worse quality sperm. It seems that males are faced with a trade-off between investing in traits that are useful for competing with rivals, or those that increase the chance of fertilising an egg. They can’t have everything.

Have they ever heard of chemistry?
__________________

 

[sr71plt]

So the big Charles Atlas guy on the beach that kicks sand in the face of the 90 pound weakling is less likely to have children than said 90 pound weakling?

Might help explain why women go for the Charles Atlas type.

 

[Handley_Page]

Quote:

Manlier males have lower quality sperm

As sperm can be costly for the body to produce and resources are limited, males can also face trade-offs between producing sperm and other characteristics useful for reproduction. For example, species in which males invest more in big bodies and horns, or deep voices have been shown to produce less sperm.

In humans, men with more attractive voices have been shown to have worse quality sperm. It seems that males are faced with a trade-off between investing in traits that are useful for competing with rivals, or those that increase the chance of fertilising an egg. They can’t have everything.

Have they ever heard of chemistry?
__________________

There's a damned good plot bunny there, I'm thinking.

Might help explain why women go for the Charles Atlas type.

But really; do they ?

 

[sr71plt]

But really; do they ?

Hard to prove either way. We could call them and ask. (I wouldn't want to bet against gravitation to the hunk in the room first, though.)

 

[Hypoxia]

There's a damned good plot bunny there, I'm thinking.

I recall old tropes of big manly he-men with pencil-dicks, of muscle-bound studs with Mickey Mouse voices, etc. Real or fantasy? Doesn't matter much at LIT -- swing with it. Jud the Stud can't get it up. Tragedy!

But really; do they ?

Muscle freaks of any gender apparently do. I've not followed GM fiction (which supposedly has a large straight female audience) but I wonder how many straight females consume GM imagery? Who fantasizes about Mega-Man but settles with Salary-Man? Are perfect-man fantasies equivalent to Incest, Furry, and Rape fantasies?

 

[sr71plt]

Muscle freaks of any gender apparently do. I've not followed GM fiction (which supposedly has a large straight female audience) but I wonder how many straight females consume GM imagery? Who fantasizes about Mega-Man but settles with Salary-Man? Are perfect-man fantasies equivalent to Incest, Furry, and Rape fantasies?

I've occasionally wondered if women readers follow GM stories looking for muscle men who are sensitive and thoughtful at the same time. But, I seem to have female readers for my stories and I don't think I use that character very often.