Having many partners may help your kids perform better, even if it puts your own health at risk - if you're an African frog - new research shows

The biologists analyzed wild populations of a tree frog in a remote area of Limpopo province near the Kruger National Park in South Africa. Focusing on the African grey foam nest tree frog (Chiromantis xerampelina), the researchers sought to understand why females behave promiscuously, despite the risk of disease, injury and predation. Their hypothesis for female promiscuity is that females can increase the genetic diversity of their offspring and, in so doing, increase the chance that at least some offspring survive and reproduce. The argument for mating with multiple partners (polyandry) was that it increased genetic diversity cushions against fluctuating selective forces in challenging environments. The frog's offspring are developing in an environment that's highly unpredictable in terms of rainfall, food availability and predation risk. If the environment is fluctuating, it is very difficult for females to predict which male partner will provide genes that give her offspring the best chance of performing well in the future. So if she's mated with a range of different males it increases the probability that one of those males will provide her offspring with genes that allow those offspring to withstand the challenges of life. While polyandry did not affect the rate of development or size of offspring at maturity, it did have an effect on the average survival rate. Research has also been conducted on the Australian terrestrial toadlet, which inhabits bushland up and down the east coast of Australia. The genetic work with this species has shown that females will actually have their offspring sired by up to eight different males. This is now the most extreme case of female promiscuity in a vertebrate. I think this research helps to explain the sexual behavior of black Africans and Australian Aborigines who also tend to be very promiscuous.