Review Lecture: Mammalian mating systems

1989/05/22 by Timothy Hugh Clutton-Brock · 13 citations
Environmental Science · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Psychology · #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation #Animal Behavior and Reproduction #Primate Behavior and Ecology

paper · doi:10.1098/rspb.1989.0027

openalex publication_date 1989/05/22 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

Male mammals show a diverse array of mating bonds, including obligate monogamy, unimale and group polygyny and promiscuity. These are associated with a wide variety of different forms of mate guarding, including the defence of feeding and mating territories, the defence of female groups and the defence of individual receptive females. Female mating bonds include long-term monogamy, serial monogamy, polyandry and promiscuity. Both male and female mating behaviour varies widely within species. Variation in male mating behaviour is related to the effect of male assistance in rearing young and to the defensibility of females by males. The latter is, in turn, related to female ranging behaviour and to the size and stability of female groups. Much of the variation in mammalian mating bonds and systems of mate guarding can be attributed to differences in these three variables.

Citations

• The Social Organisation of Antelope in Relation To Their Ecology
• Mating systems, philopatry and dispersal in birds and mammals

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• The Social Organisation of a Population of Sumatran Orang-Utans
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• Patterns of Range Use and Social Organization in Aye-Ayes (Daubentonia Madagascariensis) on Nosy Mangabe
• Knee-clicks and visual traits indicate fighting ability in eland antelopes: multiple messages and back-up signals
• The genetic mating system of a sea spider with male-biased sexual size dimorphism: evidence for paternity skew despite random mating success
• A mixed model of the evolution of polygyny and sexual size dimorphism in mammals
• Male and female pups of the highly sexually dimorphic northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) differ slightly in body size
• Costs and Potential Benefits of Parental Care in the Nocturnal Fat-Tailed Dwarf Lemur (Cheirogaleus medius)
• Mammal [wikipedia]