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   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Humans are unique but not exceptional species of mammal    
      
     Date:   
         May 23, 2023   
     Source:   
         University of California - Davis   
     Summary:   
         Humans appear to resemble mammals that live in monogamous   
         partnerships and to some extent, those classified as cooperative   
         breeders, where breeding individuals have to rely on the help of   
         others to raise their offspring.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   In modern society, one parent may take a daughter to ballet class and fix   
   dinner so the other parent can get to exercise class before picking up   
   the son from soccer practice. To an observer, they seem to be cooperating   
   in their very busy, co-parenting, monogamous relationship.   
      
   These people may think they are part of an evolved society different from   
   the other mammals that inhabit earth. But their day-to-day behavior and   
   child- rearing habits are not much different than other mammals who hunt,   
   forage for food, and rear and teach their children, researchers suggest.   
      
   "For a long time it has been argued that humans are an exceptional,   
   egalitarian species compared to other mammals," said Monique Borgerhoff   
   Mulder, professor emerita of anthropology at the University of California,   
   Davis, and corresponding author of a new study. But, she said, this   
   exceptionalism may have been exaggerated.   
      
   "Humans appear to resemble mammals that live in monogamous partnerships   
   and to some extent, those classified as cooperative breeders, where   
   breeding individuals have to rely on the help of others to raise their   
   offspring," she said.   
      
   The UC Davis-led study, with more than 100 researchers collaborating   
   from several institutions throughout the world, is the first to look   
   at whether human males are more egalitarian than are males among other   
   mammals, focusing on the numbers of offspring they produce.   
      
   The article, "Reproductive inequality in humans and other mammals,"   
   was published this week (May 22) in the Proceedings of the National   
   Academy of Sciences. Co-authors include researchers from UC Davis,   
   The Santa Fe Institute, the National Institute for Mathematical and   
   Biological Synthesis, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary   
   Anthropology, Germany.   
      
   The researchers amassed data from 90 human populations comprising   
   80,223 individuals from many parts of the world -- both historical and   
   contemporary.   
      
   They compared the records for men and women to lifetime data for 45   
   different nonhuman, free-ranging mammals.   
      
   The researchers found that humans are by no means exceptional, merely   
   another unique species of mammal. Furthermore, as first author Cody Ross,   
   former UC Davis graduate student in the Department of Anthropology now   
   at the Max Planck Institute, points out "we can quite successfully   
   model reproductive inequality in humans and nonhumans using the   
   same predictors."  Egalitarianism in polygynous societies Somewhat   
   unexpectedly, when focusing specifically on women, the researchers   
   found greater reproductive egalitarianism in societies that allow for   
   polygynous marriage than in those where monogamous marriage prevails. In   
   polygynous systems, in which men take several wives at the same time,   
   women tend to have more equal access to resources, such as land, food and   
   shelter - - and parenting help. This is because women, or their parents   
   on their behalf, favor polygynous marriages with wealthy men who have   
   more resources to share.   
      
   Researchers observed something else in their work.   
      
   "It turns out that monogamous mating (and marriage) can drive significant   
   inequalities among women," Borgerhoff Mulder said. Monogamy, practiced   
   in agricultural and market economies, can promote large differences in   
   the number of children couples produce, researchers found, resulting   
   from large differences in wealth in such economies.   
      
   How humans may differ The fact men are relatively egalitarian compared   
   to other animals reflects our patterns of child rearing. Human children   
   are heavily dependent on the care and resources provided by both mothers   
   and fathers -- a factor that is unusual, but not completely absent --   
   in other mammals, researchers said.   
      
   The critical importance of the complementary nature of this care --   
   that that each parent provides different and often non-substitutable   
   resources and care throughout long human childhoods -- is why we don't   
   show the huge reproductive variability seen in some of the great apes,   
   said researcher Paul Hooper, from the University of New Mexico.   
      
   To support these inferences, however, anthropologists need more empirical   
   data.   
      
   "In short, the importance of biparental care is grounded in our model,   
   but needs further testing," Borgerhoff Mulder said.   
      
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                   # Children's_Health # Menopause # Pregnancy_and_Childbirth   
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   Story Source: Materials provided by   
   University_of_California_-_Davis. Original written by Karen   
   Nikos-Rose. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Journal Reference:   
      1. Cody T. Ross, Paul L. Hooper, Jennifer E. Smith, Adrian V. Jaeggi,   
      Eric   
         Alden Smith, Sergey Gavrilets, Fatema tuz Zohora, John Ziker,   
         Dimitris Xygalatas, Emily E. Wroblewski, Brian Wood, Bruce   
         Winterhalder, Kai P.   
      
         Willfu"hr, Aiyana K. Willard, Kara Walker, Christopher von Rueden,   
         Eckart Voland, Claudia Valeggia, Bapu Vaitla, Samuel Urlacher,   
         Mary Towner, Chun-Yi Sum, Lawrence S. Sugiyama, Karen B. Strier,   
         Kathrine Starkweather, Daniel Major-Smith, Mary Shenk, Rebecca   
         Sear, Edmond Seabright, Ryan Schacht, Brooke Scelza, Shane Scaggs,   
         Jonathan Salerno, Caissa Revilla-Minaya, Daniel Redhead, Anne   
         Pusey, Benjamin Grant Purzycki, Eleanor A. Power, Anne Pisor,   
         Jenni Pettay, Susan Perry, Abigail E. Page, Luis Pacheco-Cobos,   
         Kathryn Oths, Seung-Yun Oh, David Nolin, Daniel Nettle, Cristina   
         Moya, Andrea Bamberg Migliano, Karl J.   
      
         Mertens, Rita A. McNamara, Richard McElreath, Siobhan Mattison,   
         Eric Massengill, Frank Marlowe, Felicia Madimenos, Shane Macfarlan,   
         Virpi Lummaa, Roberto Lizarralde, Ruizhe Liu, Melissa A. Liebert,   
         Sheina Lew- Levy, Paul Leslie, Joseph Lanning, Karen Kramer, Jeremy   
         Koster, Hillard S. Kaplan, Bayarsaikhan Jamsranjav, A. Magdalena   
         Hurtado, Kim Hill, Barry Hewlett, Samuli Helle, Thomas Headland,   
         Janet Headland, Michael Gurven, Gianluca Grimalda, Russell Greaves,   
         Christopher D. Golden, Irene Godoy, Mhairi Gibson, Claire El Mouden,   
         Mark Dyble, Patricia Draper, Sean Downey, Angelina L. DeMarco,   
         Helen Elizabeth Davis, Stefani Crabtree, Carmen Cortez, Heidi   
         Colleran, Emma Cohen, Gregory Clark, Julia Clark, Mark A. Caudell,   
         Chelsea E. Carminito, John Bunce, Adam Boyette, Samuel Bowles,   
         Tami Blumenfield, Bret Beheim, Stephen Beckerman, Quentin Atkinson,   
         Coren Apicella, Nurul Alam, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder.   
      
         Reproductive inequality in humans and other mammals. Proceedings   
         of the National Academy of Sciences, 2023; 120 (22) DOI:   
         10.1073/pnas.2220124120   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230523123756.htm   
      
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