As mentioned above, Ariel is a threat to Ursula because she is younger and in better health. She is also ready for reproduction and Eric is aware of this. Ariel's BMI is about 17.6 kg/m2 which suggest that her life expectancy is longer than average and she will produce more offspring and care for them longer (MedlinePlus, 2004). Vanessa, Ursula's alter ego, can compete with Ariel's fitness and try to gain Eric's love because she is also young and her waist to hip ratio appears to be adequate, more so than Ariel (she is very skinny). Waist to hip ratio is important in reproduction because it indicates fitness. Ursula is desperate because she is nearing menopause and her fitness is decreasing. Also, her obesity and probable health issues make her unfit in Eric's eyes. Hence, she creates a spell that allows her to become Vanessa.
Ursula is ovulating during the time frame in which the movie takes place. The ovarian cycle can be described as "the rhythmic fluctuations in the release of ovarian hormones" (Wilson, 360). These periodic fluctuations are associated with the production of ova or eggs, which are produced by the ovaries. Ursula's reproductive system is producing eggs and this requires the interaction between gonadal and gonadotrophic hormones. Gonadotrophic hormones are "secreted by the pituitary gland [which receives commands from the hypothalamus] that alter the function of the gonads" (Wilson, 360). This process produces many changes in the women's anatomy. The ovarian cycle starts when the hypothalamus communicates with the anterior pituitary gland to begin the cycle and it does so using the hormone gonadotropin-releasing hormone. The gonadotropin hormone is released by the hypothalamus and signals the anterior pituitary glands to release another gonadotropin hormone, the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). FSH travels through the blood stream in order to reach the ovaries and stimulate the maturation of several eggs and to stimulate the ovaries to produce estrogen, the "female hormone". The immature eggs are stored in a sac or follicle.
When estrogen is released, it travels through the bloodstream to the brain and it binds to estrogen receptors located in the hypothalamus. Estrogen continues to travel to the brain until the hypothalamus signals, though the negative feedback loop to the anterior pituitary gland, to stop the production. During this process another gonadotrophic hormone, luteinizing hormone (LH), which is transported to the ovary, is also produced. This hormone "initiates ovulation and stimulates the development of the corpus luteum" (Wilson 361) and stimulates the production of estrogen and progesterone. LH causes ovulation to start, in other words it is an indicator for "the mature egg to burst out of its follicle" (Wilson 362) and travel to the fallopian tubes. This egg is ready for fertilization. The ruptured follicle makes the corpus luteum, "a yellowish structure in the ovary...that produces progesterone" (Wilson 363). Unless the eggs become fertilized they degenerate and LH's production stops. The corpus luteum also degenerates and the production of estrogen and progesterone plunges, which indicates the end of the ovarian cycle.
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