Monogamy: Mating Strategies and Partnerships in Birds, Humans and Other Mammals

by Ulrich H. Reichard, Christophe Boesch

Overview

Why do birds often live in pairs and rear chicks together, whereas female mammals usually live in groups and rear their young without male help? Why do males sometimes live with a single mate when they are capable of fertilizing more than one female's eggs? Is male helping behavior important for monogamous partnerships? This book provides answers concerning the biological roots of social monogamy in animal groups as diverse as ungulates, carnivores, rodents, birds and primates (including humans) for students and researchers in behavioral ecology, evolutionary anthropology and zoology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521525770
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/11/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	278
Product dimensions:	7.48(w) x 9.69(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Ulrich Reichard is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Previously he was a research scientist in the Department of Primatology at the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.

Christophe Boesch is Scientific Director of the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and Professor of Primatology at the University of Leipzig.

Table of Contents

Introduction: 1. Monogamy: past and present Ulrich H. Reichard; Part I. Evolution of Social Monogamy: 2. The evolution of monogamy: mating relationships, parental care and sexual selection Anders Pape Møller; 3. Mate guarding and the evolution of social monogamy in mammals Peter N. M. Brotherton and Petr E. Komers; 4. The evolution of social monogamy in primates Carel P. van Schaik and Peter M. Kappeler; 5. The evolution of social and reproductive monogamy in Peromyscus David O. Ribble; Part II. Reproductive Strategies of Socially Monogamous Males and Females: 6. Social functions of copulation in the socially monogamous razorbill (Alca torda) Richard H. Wagner; 7. Social and reproductive monogamy in rodents: the case of the Malagasy Giant Jumping Rat (Hypogeomys antimena) Simone Sommer; 8. Social polyandry and promiscuous mating in a primate-like carnivore, the kinkajou (Potos flavus) Roland Kays; 9. Monogamy correlates, socioecological factors and mating systems in beavers Lixing Sun; 10. Social monogamy and social polygyny in a solitary ungulate, the Japanese serow (Capricornis crispus) Ryosuke Kishimoto; Part III. Reproductive Strategies of Human and Non-human Primates: 11. Ecological and social complexities in human monogamy Bobbi S. Low; 12. Social monogamy in a human society: marriage and reproductive success among the Dogon Beverly I. Strassmann; 13. Social monogamy in gibbons: the male perspective Ulrich H. Riechard; 14. Pair living and mating strategies in the fat-tailed dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus medius) Joanna Fietz; 15. Social monogamy and its variations in callitrichids: do these relate to the costs of infant care? Anne W. Goldizen; 16. Monogamy in New World primates: what can patterns of olfactory communication tell us? Eckhard W. Heymann.

Editorial Reviews

'This book provides an up-to-date and important contribution on monogamy in birds, humans and other mammals … this is an excellent and very informative book which will be of use to anyone interested in mating systems and mating strategies. It highlights the many as yet unresolved questions concerning the evolution of monogamy and should stimulate new avenues of research.' Primate Eye

'All in all it is a very impressive collection of studies.' David J. Chivers, Folia Primatologica

'… this volume is both interesting and provocative. Everyone interested in social systems in vertebrates and the theoretical issues that are still unsettled will want a copy of this book.' Primates

' … this is a useful book and it makes a welcome addition to the literature.' Ethology

From the Publisher