Professor discusses duck reproduction in The New Yorker
Mount Holyoke College Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Patricia Brennan is featured in a New Yorker story about recent natural history books that examine sexual reproduction in animals.
In recent years, the study of sexual reproduction has undergone significant change. The New Yorker just published a roundup of natural history books that examine this topic and quoted Patricia Brennan, associate professor of biological sciences at Mount Holyoke College.
Among the books discussed is “Poking the Squid: What We Can Learn from Animal Sex.” This illustrated jaunt through animal sexual reproduction examines mallard ducks and how females of that species can reject unwanted sperm. Brennan says that even if female mallards “are being forced to copulate, they have evolved a system to maintain sexual autonomy.”
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