In our ongoing fascination with animals and their sex lives, a study published by Molecular Ecology has found that Alligators are almost completely monogamous (making them sort of like the Catholics of the reptile kingdom). This is surprising news since most reptiles tend to by polyamorous (so they’re more like the Mormons).
Finding mate fidelity in alligators is surprising because most reptiles are polygamous, often mating with multiple partners during the same breeding year and producing young from multiple fathers. Alligators do exhibit multiple paternity — in this study, roughly 50 percent of nests contained eggs from more than one father — but surprisingly, females appeared to pick the same male (or males) year after year.
Because of the dense population of alligators at the wildlife refuge, the researchers don’t think the repeat pairings were a result of chance. Instead, it appears that female alligators are actively choosing specific males that they’ve mated with in the past.
Maybe the alligators just want to save money on having to buy condoms.
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