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

Abstract

U. H. Reichard, C. Boesch (eds.). 2003. Monogamy: Mating Strategies and Partnerships in Birds, Humans and Other Mammals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 267 pp. ISBN 0-521-52577-2, price (paper), $45.00. 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-pair partners present an additional puzzle. Monogamy: Mating Strategies and Partnerships in Birds, Humans and Other Mammals brings together the most recent comparative analyses and long-term field studies that address the evolution of monogamy in mammals. A book-length review of this topic is very welcome. The conceptual framework for thinking about mating systems in mammals for nearly a decade and a half (Clutton-Brock 1989; Davies 1991) has been rooted in Kleiman's (1977) seminal review of monogamy and Emlen and Oring's (1977) ecological framework of mating system evolution. These reviews overemphasized the role of parental care, now believed to have evolved after the evolution of monogamy in most cases, and de-emphasized the role of female choice in favor of male control of female reproduction. The advent of molecular techniques for parentage assignment has ushered in a new understanding of the costs and benefits of monogamy for individuals that …