About the Birds and Bees

For John, BLUF:  Number one indicator of success in the US?  Are your natural parents still married.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Some Songbirds Have Brains Specially Designed to Find Mates for Life

From The Old Gray Ladies, by Ms Joanna Klein, 13 February 2018.

Here is the lede plus three:

If Cupid wanted to make two songbirds fall in love, he’d have better luck aiming at their brains.  That’s because songbirds, which form lifelong mating pairs, have brain systems perfectly tuned to fit together.

While you sort through the messages of admirers, deciding who to make your Valentine, consider finches.

Young males in this family of feathered crooners learn the song of their father, perfect it and perform it as adults to attract a lifelong mate.  It’s loud, elaborate and precise.  With their songs they say “chirp, chirp — my brain is healthy, and my body is strong.  That’s something you’re into, right?”

A female finch also learns the songs of her father from a young age, but she doesn’t perform.  She’s the critic.  She analyzes every detail of a potential mate’s song, compares it to her father’s example and decides if this performer is one she’d like to keep around.  If she detects a song is too simple or off in any way, she’ll have nothing to do with its performer.  She’s very picky, as she should be, because the mate she chooses will help raise their young — till death do they part.

We definitely have, as humans, free will.

My question is, do we find women (and children and men) better prospering under the institution of marriage or in a more free wheeling set of relationships?

I am betting marriage, with, of course, the sanction of separation.

Regards  —  Cliff