Aggressive Chimpanzees More Likely to be Fathers

Based on the genetic evidence of paternity, a new study in the Cell Press journal Current Biology suggests that male chimpanzees that treat females aggressively have more offspring over time than males that are not aggressive. This could explain why male chimpanzees are generally very aggressive to the females in the environment.

"I'm not that aggressive!"

For the study, Joseph Feldblum of Duke University along with his colleagues looked at a community of chimpanzees in Tanzania's Gombe National Park. This park has been under close observation so the researchers knew who the biological fathers were of nearly all the chimps born in the community based on parental genetic tests. The findings showed that males had a higher reproductive success when they showed long term patterns of intimidation. The study shows what might be the first genetic evidence of sexual coercion as an adaptive strategy in social mammals.
This article is extremely interesting but readers should be warned that this does not have explanations for mating behavior in human society because the way a chimpanzee society is ran is different from how human society is. So although nice guys finish last in a chimpanzee community, it does not explain the idea that nice guys finish last in human society if you believe that. Also do not treat females aggressively just because chimps do.

Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141113122939.htm

SRY Gene's Role in Aggression

According to Science Daily,Australian Scientists believe a gene called SRY plays a huge role in a Males response to stress.  Dr Joohyung Lee explains that men tend to express the aggressive "fight or flight" response much more frequent than women in a stressful situation.  The SRY gene is found on the Y chromosome and is understood to be vital in forming the testes for males.  Recently SRY protein has been found in the brain "controlling movement via dopamine".  According to Medical News Today , Dopamine is conventionally understood as a product of a rewarding stimuli.  Recently it has been discovered that aggression is processed as a reward in the brain; therefore, dopamine is produced.  This may explain the presence of the SRY protein in the brain with dopamine activity.  Science Daily also found SRY protein in the heart and lungs, which proves it serves a purpose further than sexual determination.  Since the heart and lungs are involved in stressful situations this clearly indicates SRY could prime the organs to respond to stress in a different way to prepare for aggressive behavior.  An increase in catecholamine and blood will enter the organs allowing a fight or flight response to take place.  Females utilize oestrogen and opiates to remain calmer in stressful situations.  It is amazing that the SRY gene originally believed to only form the testes plays such a role in a male's aggression during a stressful event.  I certainly believe other factors play a role in an individuals response to stress; however, it is pretty clear that the SRY gene has a major influence on a Male's behavior.