Evolution of monogamy, paternal investment, and female life history in Peromyscus.

Journal of Comparative Psychology Evolution of Monogamy, Paternal Investment, and Female Life History in Peromyscus

The evolution of monogamy in response to partner scarcity

The evolution of monogamy and paternal care in humans is often argued to have resulted from the needs of our expensive offspring. Recent research challenges this claim, however, contending that promiscuous male competitors and the risk of cuckoldry limit the scope for the evolution of male investment. So how did monogamy first evolve? Links between mating strategies and partner availability may...

The origin of parental care in relation to male and female life history

The evolution of maternal, paternal, and bi-parental care has been the focus of a great deal of research. Males and females vary in basic life-history characteristics (e.g., stage-specific mortality, maturation) in ways that are unrelated to parental investment. Surprisingly, few studies have examined the effect of this variation in male and female life history on the evolution of care. Here, w...

The evolution of social and reproductive monogamy in Peromyscus, evidence from Peromyscus californicus (the California Mouse)

Evolution of Social Monogamy, Reproductive Strategies of Socially Monogamous Males and Females, and Reproductive Strategies of Human and Non-Human Primates

Understanding the evolution of monogamy in mammals has challenged behavioral ecologists for decades, because in most cases males are predicted to experience higher fitness through polygynous mating. In contrast to birds, gestation and lactation limit the potential fitness benefits of paternal care for all but a handful of species. Individuals that live in monogamous pairs but mate with extra-pa...