Scientists at Syracuse University in New York last Thursday released the results of analysis of 334 species of bat. They concluded that males cannot have both big brains and big testes. It's either large brains and small testes, or small brains and large testes.
"Because relatively large brains are metabolically costly to develop and maintain, changes in brain size may be accompanied by compensatory changes in other expensive tissues," wrote Dr Scott Pitnick in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Letters.
It appears that in bat colonies where the female is more likely to mate with more than one male, it behoves the male to produce greater quantities of sperm to ensure it's his offspring that are sprung. Whereas, in colonies where the females are less promiscuous, the males tend to have larger brains. I guess this allows them to concentrate on other, more important things, like meeting their mates down at the pub, watching the footy, etc.
The correlation between larger brains and monogamous matings came as somewhat of a shock to the scientists, leading them to hypothesise that "Perhaps monogamy is more neurologically demanding."
I'm willing to lay odds their are a few people out there who would agree.
And what does this say about Batman?
So, ladies. If you're interested in a bloke and you want to know if he's half as smart as he makes out, give him a pair of Speedos and invite him to a pool party. A quick glance in the right direction should answer your question.
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