Definitions
Human sperm competition: the competition to fertilize a woman’s egg that takes place inside a woman between sperm from two or more different men.
Introduction
From 1962–1970, Robin Baker studied zoology at the University of Bristol, UK. One of his contemporaries, both as an undergraduate and postgraduate, was Geoffrey Parker who, around 1965, was the first person to recognize the phenomenon of sperm competition. Parker’s focus was on insects, but from the beginning, according to Baker (2015; p. iv), Parker envisaged a wider relevance for his theory. During the winter of 1965–1966, the pair shared an apartment, and there, Baker writes, they would sit “talking about sex – as postgraduates do.” Mainly, their conversations revolved around dung flies, but from time to time, they mused over whether sperm competition might also occur in humans. Their conclusion was always the same: maybe it did, but study would be impossible. A further 20 years were to pass before Baker revised...
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Baker, R. (2017). Robin Baker and Mark Bellis: Pioneers of Research on Human Sperm Competition. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3590-2
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Robin Baker and Mark Bellis: Pioneers of Research on Human Sperm Competition- Published:
- 03 February 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3590-2
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Robin Baker and Mark Bellis: Pioneers of Research on Human Sperm Competition- Published:
- 21 December 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3590-1