@cofty:
Because, with 2 males, it is quite apparent who will win the fight...the fittest. However, throw 10,000 male snakes in the competition, and I don't see how this is a true test of the "fittest'.
Could you imagine 10,000 human males going after a ovulating female, and then saying the winner was the 'fittest'. Ridiculous! There would be far too many variables to make that kind of judgement.
So, in the case of the snakes, I am wondering how proper 'natural selection' is for weeding out anything but the 'fittest', when this particular case makes little sense.