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14 - Sex ratios in primate groups

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2009

By
Joan B. Silk  and
Gillian R. Brown
Edited by
Peter M. Kappeler  and
Carel P. van Schaik
Joan B. Silk
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Gillian R. Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Peter M. Kappeler
Affiliation:
Deutsches Primatenzentrum, Göttingen, Germany
Carel P. van Schaik
Affiliation:
Duke University, North Carolina
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Summary

I formerly thought that when a tendency to produce the two sexes in equal numbers was advantageous to the species, it would follow from natural selection, but I now see the whole problem is so intricate that it is safer to leave its solution for the future.

Charles Darwin, 1871

Introduction

Sexual selection is an important evolutionary force in mammalian species because of one simple fact – males are a glut on the market. From the females' point of view, there are more males than needed to meet their reproductive requirements. And from the males' point of view, there are not nearly enough females to go around to satisfy their reproductive potential. The relative abundance of males generates strong intrasexual competition among them.

The goals of this chapter are to explore the selective factors that influence the evolution of birth sex ratios, and to weigh the empirical evidence that primate females facultatively manipulate birth sex ratios to enhance their own fitness. We will begin by briefly enumerating some of the ways in which adult sex ratios influence the evolution of male and female life histories, morphology and reproductive strategies in primate groups. Then, we will explain how natural selection shapes the evolution of birth sex ratios, and consider the empirical evidence for adaptive manipulation of birth sex ratios in primate groups.

Type
Chapter
Information
Sexual Selection in Primates
New and Comparative Perspectives
 , pp. 253 - 265
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

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