Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword by Robert L. Trivers
- Preface
- PART I INTRODUCTION
- PART II SEXUAL SIGNALS: SUBSTRATES AND FUNCTION
- PART III SEXUAL SELECTION IN ACTION
- PART IV DEVELOPMENT AND CONSEQUENCES
- 10 Development and sexual selection in primates
- 11 Alternative male reproductive strategies: male bimaturism in orangutans
- 12 Sexual selection and the careers of primate males: paternity concentration, dominance-acquisition tactics and transfer decisions
- 13 Sexual selection, measures of sexual selection, and sexual dimorphism in primates
- 14 Sex ratios in primate groups
- 15 Natural and sexual selection and the evolution of multi-level societies: insights from zebras with comparisons to primates
- Index
- References
14 - Sex ratios in primate groups
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword by Robert L. Trivers
- Preface
- PART I INTRODUCTION
- PART II SEXUAL SIGNALS: SUBSTRATES AND FUNCTION
- PART III SEXUAL SELECTION IN ACTION
- PART IV DEVELOPMENT AND CONSEQUENCES
- 10 Development and sexual selection in primates
- 11 Alternative male reproductive strategies: male bimaturism in orangutans
- 12 Sexual selection and the careers of primate males: paternity concentration, dominance-acquisition tactics and transfer decisions
- 13 Sexual selection, measures of sexual selection, and sexual dimorphism in primates
- 14 Sex ratios in primate groups
- 15 Natural and sexual selection and the evolution of multi-level societies: insights from zebras with comparisons to primates
- Index
- References
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, 1871Introduction
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 PrimatesNew and Comparative Perspectives, pp. 253 - 265Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004
References
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