Baby tortoises have been given paternity tests to find out whether sperm storage affects fertilisation.
Female Hermann's tortoises mate with multiple partners and can store sperm inside their bodies for years.
Scientists found that in egg clutches with multiple fathers, mating order did not affect males' fertilisation success.
Previous studies into similar species have found that a higher proportion of eggs are fertilised by the last mate.
"[This] 'last in first out' hypothesis was our main hypothesis," said research team member Dr Sara Fratini from the University of Florence.
She explained that, according to the mechanics of a tube such as those found in the females' reproductive system, the first substance to enter would be the last to come back out when emptied.
But in the study, published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Dr Fratini and colleagues Giulia Cutuli, Dr Stefano Cannicci and Prof Marco Vannini did not find evidence to match this logic.
Instead the team's findings support the idea that sperm may become randomly mixed inside the female's oviduct, the passageway from the ovaries.
Continued: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/20318565
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