Monogamy in Mammals

@article{Kleiman1977MonogamyIM,
  title={Monogamy in Mammals},
  author={Devra G. Kleiman},
  journal={The Quarterly Review of Biology},
  year={1977},
  volume={52},
  pages={39 - 69}
}
  • D. Kleiman
  • Published 1 March 1977
  • Biology
  • The Quarterly Review of Biology
This review considers the behavioral, ecological, and reproductive characteristics of mammals exhibiting monogamy, i.e., mating exclusivity. From a discussion of the life histories of selected species of monogamous primates, carnivores, rodents and ungulates, several trends emerge. Two forms of monogramy occur, Type I, facultative, and Type II, obligate. The selective pressures leading to these two forms of monogamy may have been different. Facultative monogamy may result when a species exists… 
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1,307 Citations
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548
Methods Citations
8
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1,307 Citations

Genetic Monogamy in Socially Monogamous Mammals Is Primarily Predicted by Multiple Life History Factors: A Meta-Analysis
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A meta-analyses using model selection found that living as part of a socially monogamous pair versus in a group was the best predictor of genetic monogamy, either by itself or in combination with high levels of paternal care.
Is Play Behavior Sexually Dimorphic in Monogamous Species
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It is possible that rough-and-tumble play behavior is monomorphic in many monogamous mammals, perhaps reflecting differences from polygynous species in the effects of exposure to early androgens or in the estrogen receptor distribution.
Monogamy: Cause, Consequence, or Corollary of Success in Wild Canids?
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This review asks why canids are monogamous and how monogamy is related to their success and proposes the monogamy as pro-cooperative hypothesis, suggesting four characteristics have contributed to canid success: ecological flexibility, high mobility, high reproductive rates, sociality/cooperation, and the latter two being consequences of monogamy.
Sexual Dimorphism in Mammals: Avian Models and Unanswered Questions
  • K. Ralls
  • Biology
    The American Naturalist
  • 1977
TLDR
An adequate mammalian model will have to include another set of factors which oppose the evolution of polygyny by increasing the spacing or mobility of females, and explain why sexual dimorphism has evolved more frequently in large mammals than in small ones.
Genetic Evidence for Long-Term Monogamy in a Small Rodent, Peromyscus polionotus
  • D. Foltz
  • Biology, Environmental Science
    The American Naturalist
  • 1981
TLDR
The methods used in this paper have generality and could be used to study the mating system in other mammals that are difficult or impossible to study by direct observation, as well as several other probable cases of monogamy among small rodents.
Genetic relationships within colonies suggest genetic monogamy in the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber)
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This work used microsatellite loci to provide parentage estimates from colonies of the Eurasian beaver in the Kirov region, Russia to suggest that while colonies may comprise both related and unrelated individuals, the genetic mating system appears to match that of the previously inferred social monogamy.
Male infanticide leads to social monogamy in primates
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It is shown that biparental care shortens relative lactation length, thereby reducing infanticide risk and increasing reproductive rates, and phylogenetic analyses support a key role for infanticides in the social evolution of primates, and potentially, humans.
Monogamy in Mammals: Expanding the Perspective on Hylobatid Mating Systems
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Data presented in this review reveal that EPPs are widespread across purportedly monogamous species, and that in many species there is a high degree of individual behavioral plasticity.
Size, Sexual Dimorphism, and Polygyny in Primates
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The tendency for polygynous mammals to show greater size dimorphism than monogamous ones was originally noticed by Darwin (1871), and quantitative studies have subsequently confirmed that in primates (Gautier-Hion, 1975), pinnipeds and ungulates (Alexander et al., 1979), as well as birds and amphibians (Shine, 1979) monogamous species consistently show lessDimorphism.
The Monogamy Paradox: What Do Love and Sex Have to Do With It?
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As reviewed here, genes for steroids and peptides and their receptors are variable and are subject to epigenetic regulation across the lifespan permitting individual, gender and species variations and providing substrates for evolution.
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