The evolution of social monogamy in mammals
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The Only Flame in Town: Unusual for mammals, humans are notably socially monogamous, with pair bonding sometimes lasting decades. Why? Lukas and Clutton-Brock (p. 526 ; see the Perspective by Kappeler ) examined data from over 2500 mammalian species across 26 orders containing 60 evolutionary transitions to monogamy. In every case, the ancestral condition was one where females were solitary and where male infanticide was unusual. Monogamy appears to arise not as a response to a need for paternal care, but largely as a mate-guarding strategy.
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Paternal care is more prevalent in socially monogamous mammals than in mammals generally.
“Male involvement in parental care is relatively uncommon in mammals; however, paternal care is more prevalent in socially monogamous mammals [12].”
From The Neurobiology of Love and Pair Bonding from Human and Animal Perspectives (2023) · cites this paper as [12]
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- Authors
- Lukas, D., & Clutton-Brock, T. H.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.
- Corresponding author
- Lukas, D.
- ORCID
- Lukas, D.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2013-08-02
- Volume
- 341
- Issue
- 6145
- Pages
- 526-530
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2100293177
- Cited by
- 678
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 39 · 2025: 43 · 2024: 45 · 2023: 61 · 2022: 47 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 100 · 2019: 48 · 2018: 80 · 2017: 45 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 40 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 9
- FWCI
- 38.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Keywords
- social monogamy, solitary behavior, paternal care, female density, mating strategies, male-male competition
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Biological Evolution, Female, Male, Marriage, Population Density, Sexual Behavior, Animal
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