Sexual size dimorphism

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Sexual size dimorphism (SSD) is the tendency for one sex of a species to be larger than the other. For most cold-blooded animals exhibiting SSD, females tend to be larger; while for most warm-blooded species males do, but there are exceptions to both these rules. SSD is often considered to be a consequence of sexual selection, but may be have more directly adaptive explanations, e.g. the capacity for parental care.