Reproductive inequality in humans and other mammals

Ross, Cody T., Hooper, Paul L., Smith, Jennifer E., Jaeggi, Adrian V., Smith, Eric Alden, Gavrilets, Sergey, tuz Zohora, Fatema, Ziker, John, Xygalatas, Dimitris, Wroblewski, Emily E., Wood, Brian, Winterhalder, Bruce, Willführ, Kai P., Willard, Aiyana K., Walker, Kara, von Rueden, Christopher, Voland, Eckart, Valeggia, Claudia, Vaitla, Bapu, Urlacher, Samuel, Towner, Mary, Sum, Chun Yi, Sugiyama, Lawrence S., Strier, Karen B., Starkweather, Kathrine, Major-Smith, Daniel, Shenk, Mary, Sear, Rebecca, Seabright, Edmond, Schacht, Ryan, Scelza, Brooke, Scaggs, Shane, Salerno, Jonathan, Revilla-Minaya, Caissa, Redhead, Daniel, Pusey, Anne, Purzycki, Benjamin Grant, Power, Eleanor A. ORCID: 0000-0002-3064-2050, Pisor, Anne, Pettay, Jenni, Perry, Susan, Page, Abigail E., Pacheco-Cobos, Luis, Oths, Kathryn, Oh, Seung Yun, Nolin, David, Nettle, Daniel, Moya, Cristina, Migliano, Andrea Bamberg, Mertens, Karl J., McNamara, Rita A., McElreath, Richard, Mattison, Siobhan, Massengill, Eric, Marlowe, Frank, Madimenos, Felicia, Macfarlan, Shane, Lummaa, Virpi, Lizarralde, Roberto, Liu, Ruizhe, Liebert, Melissa A., Lew-Levy, Sheina, Leslie, Paul, Lanning, Joseph, Kramer, Karen, Koster, Jeremy, Kaplan, Hillard S., Jamsranjav, Bayarsaikhan, Hurtado, A. Magdalena, Hill, Kim, Hewlett, Barry, Helle, Samuli, Headland, Thomas, Headland, Janet, Gurven, Michael, Grimalda, Gianluca, Greaves, Russell, Golden, Christopher D., Godoy, Irene, Gibson, Mhairi, El Mouden, Claire, Dyble, Mark, Draper, Patricia, Downey, Sean, DeMarco, Angelina L., Davis, Helen Elizabeth, Crabtree, Stefani, Cortez, Carmen, Colleran, Heidi, Cohen, Emma, Clark, Gregory, Clark, Julia, Caudell, Mark A., Carminito, Chelsea E., Bunce, John, Boyette, Adam, Bowles, Samuel, Blumenfield, Tami, Beheim, Bret, Beckerman, Stephen, Atkinson, Quentin, Apicella, Coren, Alam, Nurul and Mulder, Monique Borgerhoff (2023) Reproductive inequality in humans and other mammals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120 (22). ISSN 0027-8424

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Abstract

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.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2023 the Author(s).
Divisions:	LSE Health Methodology
Subjects:	H Social Sciences R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Date Deposited:	31 Jul 2023 15:00
Last Modified:	25 Apr 2024 23:15
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/119878

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