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In the 19th century, a theory was born that claimed that the hereditary characteristics of children are affected by the first sexual partner of a woman. The article will talk about such a phenomenon as telegony, as well as about the studies conducted to confirm it

2026 Author: Angel Austin | [email protected]. Last modified: 2025-01-23 12:19:32 telegony what is it In the 19th century, a theory was born that claimed that the hereditary characteristics of female children are affected by the mother's first sexual partner. This view is not based on experimental data, but nevertheless causes controversy and interest so far. So, is telegony false or true? We'll figure it out. The emergence of the term "telegony". Research history The components are two words - "far" and "beget". There is also a myth giving rise to telegony. According to him, the son of Odysseus and the nymph Circe, Telegonus, was killed by chance, as well as his father's ignorance of his existence. The theory of telegony goes back to the assumptions of Aristotle. He believed that the inheritance of traits by an individual comes not only from real parents, but also from all males from which the female had previous pregnancies. At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, belief in theory was especially common among breeders who worked with various types of domestic animals. One of the most famous examples that allegedly confirms the basis of the idea is the case ofLord Morton's mare, which was described by Ch. Darwin. The horse was 1/8 English and 7/8 Arabian. There was a case of her mating with a quagga, after which the mare was covered only by a stallion of her breed. After that, foals were born, which, in terms of the stiffness of the coat, color, dark spots and stripes, were similar to the quagga, as if they had 1/16 of his blood. This case was regarded as an example of telegony, but some scientists, including Charles Darwin, considered the similarity of external signs to be an archaic manifestation. In favor of the latter was the fact that foals can have stripes, even if their mother did not have mating with quaggs or zebras. Further experiments Breeder K. Ewart conducted experiments with eight purebred mares and a male zebra. As a result, thirteen hybrids were obtained. After that, the mares were covered with stallions of their breed. 18 cubs were born, and none showed signs of zebroids. Researcher I. I. Ivanov conducted similar experiments, but never received facts confirming telegony. In 2014, a study was published that confirmed the existence of the phenomenon. The article was posted in Ecology Letters and talked about the experiment. It consisted of the following: males were divided into two groups, one of which ate food rich in nutrients, and the second received food that did not contain enough vitamins. Males of different sizes were mated with young females. With the advent of the first maturity partners changed. The result was offspring, the size of which was determined by the diet of the first partner. But this experiment does not fully confirm the effect of telegony, since other options for obtaining such results are also possible. For example, the imbibition of the molecules of the first male's seed by the immature eggs of the female. Telegony: what is this term for society The idea of the theory is supported by some dog breeders and horse breeders. They do not allow females to be crossed with non-purebred animals, as they believe that unwanted genes will be present in all subsequent offspring. Followers of religious and conservative ideologies use the telegonia effect to keep their adherents chaste. This idea caused a surge of anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany. Esotericism also supported the theory. Her argument was the interaction of auras and biofields of partners during sexual intercourse, which was preserved in each of them throughout their lives. Reasoning on the topic telegony true or false Telegony - true or false? In the 19th century, genetics as a science did not exist, so there were many different theories of inheritance. For example, the philosopher and biologist Le Dantec explained the transfer of characters by the fact that they belong to a species acquired, but morphologically hidden category. These inherited traits may show up in subsequent pregnancies of the mother, he thought. But Le Dantec could not provide confirmation of his theory. The opponent of the philosopher Delage noted that the influence of the signs of the first partner is manifested only in exceptional cases. Due to the lack of evidence, he questioned the very fact of telegonia. G. Mendel's experiments laid the foundation for the laws of heredity. At first, his work was not appreciated. In 1900, scientists conducted experiments confirming Mendel's hypotheses. With the development of genetics, telegony began to lose its relevance. Telegony: evidence Supporters of this theory consider the appearance of signs that are absent in the parents, but were in the previous partner of the female, an argument in her favor. The term has a number of other, similar in meaning names - "Laws of Rita" and "effect of the first male." The belief that the features of the first male would be reflected in the descendants of subsequent m...

Telegony - what is it? Telegony - fact or fiction? Theory and evidence - Science