S1E4: What Darwin Got Wrong About The Female Animal
Female scientists are revealing the real truth about animal queens.
Lucy Cooke is a British zoologist, author, director and television producer. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford, where she was tutored by Richard Dawkins.
A trailblazer in the field of evolutionary biology, Lucy’s works have included multiple BBC films, documentaries, and award-winning books on various members of the animal kingdom.
Her latest book, Bitch: On the Female of the Species, is a fierce, funny, and revolutionary look at the queens of the animal kingdom.
Lucy demonstrates that Darwin's view of females as passive, like Victorian housewives, was more a sign of his times than a biological fact.
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Today's female scientists are revealing the real truth about animal queens:
🐆 They can be ravishing, promiscuous, competitive and aggressive.
🐍 Maternal instinct is a myth. There is a specific part of the brain associated with nurturing, which functions like a switch. Both females and males have it.
🐋 Orcas show us that menopause might be associated with the ability to create complex societies and the capacity for empathy.
🦧 Bonobos have a matriarchal and peaceful society, unlike their patriarchal and warlike chimpanzee relatives. There is one thing in particular they do to make it happen ;)
Intrigued?