But Is Monogamy Really All That?

voles are little mouse-like rodents common to the wilds of north america

unbeknownst to me (and possibly you or anyone else who hasnt been keeping up with cutting edge hormone research over the past 4 years), neurobiologists at emory university in atlanta have been trying to find out what makes prairie vole males such loyal mates while their close cousin male meadow voles are such...ummm....promiscous rats.

according to a paper published in the current issue of nature ("Enhanced partner preference in a promiscuous species by manipulating the expression of a single gene" Lim, M. M. et al. Nature, 429, 754 - 757, doi:10.1038/nature02539 (2004)), man now has the awesome power to turn swinging vole-dudes into faithful furry cuddlers.

turns out that old cliche about the brain being the real erogenous zone wasnt far from the truth because all it takes to make a male meadow vole walk the line is one little old slightly tweaked brain gene delivered by viral vector rather than cupid's bow. that altered gene causes the once solitary roving vole brain to develop high levels of vasopressin receptors which "regulate social behaviour and pair bonding" and a couple days later you have a one-hole vole who behaves like one of those more respectable prairie voles.

to prove their theory, the emory team placed 22 virgin meadow vole males, none of which had ever encountered a sexually active female to that point, into 22 cages, each containing a single female that had been supercharged with estrogen. each pair spent the next 24 hot voling hours together. the males were then removed and placed in individual 2-room plexiglass complexes . in one "room" was tethered his original partner. the other held a what is technically known as a 'strange' female pumped full of hormones.

11 of 11 genetically monogamized voles chose their original partners over the hussies. the 11 control voles...well...they had threesomes sorta.

so will this work on humans? (btw only 3% of all mammals are monogamous) we may never know. according to the researchers, they dont intend to experiment with male humans because issues of human monogamy and love are much too complex.

my notes--covering years of experential research--indicate nobody ever bought that one when i used it.