Promiscuity in guppies has its virtues

Female birds do it, female bees do it, even female guppies in the (freshwater) seas do it.

Choices by females often play the deciding role in mating behavior: Bronze-winged jacanas keep male harems and trade dalliances for childcare (SN: 3/6/99, p. 149), and honeybee queens solicit up to 20 males for their midair orgies and have parasite-resistant offspring as a result (SN: 1/30/99, p.