So long as a human male makes it to adulthood, it takes him only two to three months to successfully pass on his genes, and the bulk of that time is spent making new sperm in his testicles. Once the sperm are built, it takes only sixty seconds to ejaculate them. Women, meanwhile, need a minimum of twenty-one months to pass on their DNA: twelve months for the egg follicle to fully mature and another nine months to gestate the baby. And then there’s breast-feeding. Most of the hard work of reproduction and early caretaking is done by female bodies. That’s why losing a female is usually a great
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