Ewes prefer to mate with submissive rams when given a choice

By Christa Lesté-Lasserre

When female sheep get the choice, they would rather mate with a subordinate male than a dominant one.

Dominant rams usually mate with ewes much more often than lower-ranking rams do. But they can literally run out of sperm from mating so much in a short period of time.

And if they fathered all the lambs in a flock of sheep (Ovis aries), the group would have less genetic diversity, which can lead to malformations and inheritable diseases. So ewes, which generally mate with several males when they are …