TY - JOUR
T1 - Reproductive Inequality in Humans and Other Mammals
AU - Ziker, John
AU - Mertens, Karl J.
N1 - Ross, Cody T.; Hooper, Paul L.; Smith, Jennifer E.; Jaeggi, Adrian V.; Smith, Eric Alden; Gavrilets, Sergey; . . . and Borgerhoff Mulder, Monique. (2023). "Reproductive Inequality in Humans and Other Mammals". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120(22), e2220124120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2220124120
PY - 2023/5/30
Y1 - 2023/5/30
N2 - To address claims of human exceptionalism, we determine where humans fit within the greater mammalian distribution of reproductive inequality. We show that humans exhibit lower reproductive skew (i.e., inequality in the number of surviving offspring) among males and smaller sex differences in reproductive skew than most other mammals, while nevertheless falling within the mammalian range. Additionally, female reproductive skew is higher in polygynous human populations than in polygynous nonhumans mammals on average. This patterning of skew can be attributed in part to the prevalence of monogamy in humans compared to the predominance of polygyny in nonhuman mammals, to the limited degree of polygyny in the human societies that practice it, and to the importance of unequally held rival resources to women’s fitness. The muted reproductive inequality observed in humans appears to be linked to several unusual characteristics of our species—including high levels of cooperation among males, high dependence on unequally held rival resources, complementarities between maternal and paternal investment, as well as social and legal institutions that enforce monogamous norms.
AB - To address claims of human exceptionalism, we determine where humans fit within the greater mammalian distribution of reproductive inequality. We show that humans exhibit lower reproductive skew (i.e., inequality in the number of surviving offspring) among males and smaller sex differences in reproductive skew than most other mammals, while nevertheless falling within the mammalian range. Additionally, female reproductive skew is higher in polygynous human populations than in polygynous nonhumans mammals on average. This patterning of skew can be attributed in part to the prevalence of monogamy in humans compared to the predominance of polygyny in nonhuman mammals, to the limited degree of polygyny in the human societies that practice it, and to the importance of unequally held rival resources to women’s fitness. The muted reproductive inequality observed in humans appears to be linked to several unusual characteristics of our species—including high levels of cooperation among males, high dependence on unequally held rival resources, complementarities between maternal and paternal investment, as well as social and legal institutions that enforce monogamous norms.
KW - egalitarian syndrome
KW - inequality
KW - mating systems
KW - monogamy
KW - reproductive skew
UR - https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/anthro_facpubs/177
M3 - Article
JO - Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations
JF - Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations
ER -