Reproductive inequality in humans and other mammals
Creators: name: Leslie, Paul
name: Gurven, Michael
name: Helle, Samuli
name: Urlacher, Samuel
name: Wroblewski, Emily E.
name: Shenk, Mary
name: Liu, Ruizhe
name: Boyette, Adam
name: Perry, Susan
name: Nolin, David
name: Beheim, Bret
name: Massengill, Eric
name: Smith, Jennifer E.
name: Mertens, Karl J.
name: Alam, Nurul
name: Macfarlan, Shane
name: Zohora, Fatema tuz
name: Pacheco-Cobos, Luis
name: Moya, Cristina
name: Xygalatas, Dimitris
name: Kramer, Karen
name: Valeggia, Claudia
name: Mouden, Claire El
name: Dyble, Mark
name: Winterhalder, Bruce
name: Revilla-Minaya, Caissa
name: Hill, Kim
name: Apicella, Coren
name: Oh, Seung-Yun
name: Voland, Eckart
name: Major-Smith, Daniel
name: Walker, Kara
name: Gibson, Mhairi
name: Carminito, Chelsea E.
name: Seabright, Edmond
name: Smith, Eric Alden
name: Hooper, Paul L.
name: Pettay, Jenni
name: Oths, Kathryn
name: Ross, Cody T.
name: Redhead, Daniel
name: Caudell, Mark A.
name: Lanning, Joseph
name: Greaves, Russell
name: Power, Eleanor A.
name: Godoy, Irene
name: Migliano, Andrea Bamberg
name: Hewlett, Barry
name: Lizarralde, Roberto
name: Purzycki, Benjamin Grant
name: Wood, Brian
name: Sum, Chun-Yi
name: Ziker, John
name: Willard, Aiyana K.
name: Scaggs, Shane
name: Downey, Sean
name: Grimalda, Gianluca
name: Jamsranjav, Bayarsaikhan
name: Page, Abigail E.
name: Kaplan, Hillard S.
name: Clark, Julia
name: Crabtree, Stefani
name: Towner, Mary
name: von Rueden, Christopher
name: Schacht, Ryan
name: Marlowe, Frank
name: Willführ, Kai P.
name: McNamara, Rita A.
name: Golden, Christopher D.
name: Pusey, Anne
name: Lew-Levy, Sheina
name: Starkweather, Kathrine
name: Pisor, Anne
name: Madimenos, Felicia
name: Mulder, Monique Borgerhoff
name: Draper, Patricia
name: Sear, Rebecca
name: Gavrilets, Sergey
name: Liebert, Melissa A.
name: McElreath, Richard
name: Clark, Gregory
name: Bunce, John
name: Salerno, Jonathan
name: Headland, Janet
name: Headland, Thomas
name: Blumenfield, Tami
name: Bowles, Samuel
name: Mattison, Siobhan
name: Hurtado, A. Magdalena
name: Atkinson, Quentin
name: Beckerman, Stephen
name: DeMarco, Angelina L.
name: Strier, Karen B.
name: Lummaa, Virpi
name: Koster, Jeremy
name: Cortez, Carmen
name: Sugiyama, Lawrence S.
name: Cohen, Emma
name: Jaeggi, Adrian V.
name: Davis, Helen Elizabeth
name: Vaitla, Bapu
name: Scelza, Brooke
name: Colleran, Heidi
name: Nettle, Daniel
Publisher: name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Year: 2023

description: <p>To address claims of human exceptionalism, we determine where humans fit within the greater mammalian distribution of reproductive inequality. We show that humans exhibit lower reproductive skew (i.e., inequality in the number of surviving offspring) among males and smaller sex differences in reproductive skew than most other mammals, while nevertheless falling within the mammalian range. Additionally, female reproductive skew is higher in polygynous human populations than in polygynous nonhumans mammals on average. This patterning of skew can be attributed in part to the prevalence of monogamy in humans compared to the predominance of polygyny in nonhuman mammals, to the limited degree of polygyny in the human societies that practice it, and to the importance of unequally held rival resources to women's fitness. The muted reproductive inequality observed in humans appears to be linked to several unusual characteristics of our species-including high levels of cooperation among males, high dependence on unequally held rival resources, complementarities between maternal and paternal investment, as well as social and legal institutions that enforce monogamous norms.</p>