Category Animals

The idea that male mammals tend to be larger than females has been scientific dogma since Darwin. Bigger bodies, the thinking goes, are better in the battle to win the attention of choosy females.

Turns out, that dogma may need updating.

In just over half of roughly 400 mammal species, females equal, or outweigh, their male counterparts, researchers report March 12 in Nature Communications. The persistence of the larger male narrative, the scientists say, reflects biases in the scientific literature that has existed for over a century and has constrained biologists’ understanding of how sexual selection works.

The BC SPCA is preparing to take more than 200 cats and kittens into its care from a single home in Houston, BC Despite the Society’s extensive experience and unique position within the province to be able to support large animal intakes, one of this size and nature is exceptional and will draw extensively on all the organization’s resources to care for these animals in need.

“There is so much coordination and resource allocation that goes into caring for a number of cats this significant, especially given that many of them are very young kittens,” explains Eileen Drever, senior officer,