Hilary Lehman
While you're still recovering from your Valentine's Day candy hangover, let's discuss the love lives of prairie voles.
I know most UF students probably don't care about the mating habits of rodents. If you're a wildlife ecology major and are passionate about the fact that voles like to settle down for life, that's great. Good for you.
But on the surface of it, I don't care. It takes a lot to convince me that prairie voles have any impact on my everyday life.
So kudos to the UF news desk for convincing me that I should be interested.
UF zoologists recently were involved in a study about the mating habits and nervous systems of the aforementioned prairie voles. The voles mate for life, which according to a UF news release makes them prime candidates for studies about mammalian monogamy.
According to the release, the research found that while some male voles settle down for life, others are "wanderers," wandering into other males' territories and attempting to mate with the already settled-down females.
There's a lot of biology involved here. The researchers found that the brain processes responsible for long-term relationships might not have as much to do with the wandering vole phenomenon as the processes that regulate spatial memory.
"…wandering males may not remember the territories where they are attacked by defending faithful males," the release states. "So rather than avoiding these risky sites, the males keep returning, possibly enduring repeated attacks but sometimes successfully mating with females."
If you want more in-depth analysis of the science behind the research, the release contains more specific data.
But if you're still wondering how prairie-vole love can possibly relate to your heart-shaped box of chocolates, here's the interesting part: If the human process is anything like voles, the brain processes in humans that control love and monogamy may be separate, according to the release.
If I'm interpreting that right, it means that being in love might not equate (biologically, at least) to being faithful to your partner.
Good thing it's not still Valentine's Day - that's kind of a buzz kill.
