Female fruit flies will literally choose a worse meal just to hang out near males, even if those males are being jerks to them.
March 25, 2026
Original Paper
Socio-sexual cues shape female diet choice in Drosophila melanogaster
EcoEvoRxiv · 10.32942/X2G37N
The Takeaway
It is generally assumed that animals prioritize the best nutrition and avoid areas where they face sexual harassment. This study reveals that social attraction is powerful enough to completely override a female's survival instincts for both diet quality and personal safety.
From the abstract
Male harassment can disturb female feeding behaviour and limit females’ access to preferred foraging locations. However, it is not yet known how females trade off costs of sexual harassment or increased intrasexual competition against preference for dietary macronutrients when making foraging decisions. We used the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to investigate how female foraging decisions were affected by cues of conspecific presence and interactions with males. We assessed the strength of f