Israeli scientists think they know why men and women are constantly squabbling over the heating control or the air conditioning settings: evolution.
They observed that just as women tend to feel colder than men, other species are split over temperature — and monitored 40 years worth of records on the behavior of bats and birds in Israel.
The outcome is a theory, newly peer-reviewed and published in an academic journal, suggesting that species stand the best chance of surviving when males and females keep their distance from each other.
“We suggest that the different temperature preferences reflect differences in the nervous system, and that just as males and females feel pain differently, they experience hot and cold differently,” lead author Dr. Eran Levin of Tel Aviv University’s School of Zoology told The Times of Israel. “And as a result of this, they often stay apart from each other, seeking different temperatures.
“This is because, with birds and bats, it causes genders to be separated outside breeding season, which reduces competition between males over females. It reduces aggression caused by competition for females between males, and reduces aggression toward females and their children.”
