Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I Reproductive skew theory
- Part II Testing assumptions and predictions of skew models
- 3 Reproductive skew in female-dominated mammalian societies
- 4 The effects of heterogeneous regimes on reproductive skew in eutherian mammals
- 5 Social skew as a measure of the costs and benefits of group living in marmots
- 6 Explaining variation in reproductive skew among male langurs: effects of future mating prospects and ecological factors
- 7 The causes and consequences of reproductive skew in male primates
- 8 Sociality and reproductive skew in horses and zebras
- 9 Reproductive skew in avian societies
- 10 Reproductive skew in cooperative fish groups: virtue and limitations of alternative modeling approaches
- 11 Reproductive skew in primitively eusocial wasps: how useful are current models?
- Part III Resolving reproductive conflicts: behavioral and physiological mechanisms
- Part IV Future directions
- Taxonomic index
- Subject index
3 - Reproductive skew in female-dominated mammalian societies
from Part II - Testing assumptions and predictions of skew models
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I Reproductive skew theory
- Part II Testing assumptions and predictions of skew models
- 3 Reproductive skew in female-dominated mammalian societies
- 4 The effects of heterogeneous regimes on reproductive skew in eutherian mammals
- 5 Social skew as a measure of the costs and benefits of group living in marmots
- 6 Explaining variation in reproductive skew among male langurs: effects of future mating prospects and ecological factors
- 7 The causes and consequences of reproductive skew in male primates
- 8 Sociality and reproductive skew in horses and zebras
- 9 Reproductive skew in avian societies
- 10 Reproductive skew in cooperative fish groups: virtue and limitations of alternative modeling approaches
- 11 Reproductive skew in primitively eusocial wasps: how useful are current models?
- Part III Resolving reproductive conflicts: behavioral and physiological mechanisms
- Part IV Future directions
- Taxonomic index
- Subject index
Summary
Summary
We review available data documenting reproductive skew in the small group of mammals characterized by female dominance over males, focusing mainly on lemurs and spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta). Although most females in all lemur species examined here appear to bear young at each opportunity, we know very little about variation in longer-term reproductive success or rates of reproduction among female lemurs. Therefore we cannot draw firm conclusions in regard to reproductive skew among female lemurs except that at present this appears to be slight. However, current data show that female lemurs typically mate with multiple males, and that a substantial fraction of litters containing multiple offspring is sired by more than one male. The extent of reproductive skew in male lemurs varies among species, but there is a slight trend, among the lemur species for which genetic data exist, for male skew to decrease as the intensity of female dominance increases. Variance in reproductive success among female spotted hyenas appears to be substantially greater than it is in male-dominated species in which plural breeding occurs. In this species, female dominance, combined with virilization of the external genitalia, may increase female control over mating to its extreme limit, such that we find very little reproductive skew among males relative to that found in other polygynous mammals. The most dominant male hyenas often achieve very little reproductive success. Overall, reproductive skew among females in female-dominated mammals appears to be the same as or slightly greater than that in male-dominated species, whereas skew among males in femaledominated species generally tends to be relatively low.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Reproductive Skew in VertebratesProximate and Ultimate Causes, pp. 53 - 83Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009
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