The Claim
Maintenance of sexually selected traits, particularly the mane, imposes energetic and thermoregulatory costs on African lions (Panthera leo).
The evidence supports a conditional heat-related trade-off, but not the claim’s broad causal wording. Long or dark manes are associated with higher surface temperatures and other hot-weather effects, yet direct field measurements found no corresponding rise in core body temperature. Compensatory cooling could itself consume energy, but the cited primary evidence does not directly quantify an energetic maintenance cost.
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Claim:
Apart from mane traits, lions exhibit no sexual selection.
TOTAL BS
Claim:
Physiological costs of expressing sexually selected traits (for example,…
NOT BS
Claim:
Sexual dimorphism is energetically costly to produce and maintain, and these…
HARDLY BS
Claim:
In males living in the Kalahari environment, elevated circulating testosterone…
TOTAL BS