Apicella C L, Feinberg D R, Marlowe F W
Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Peabody Museum, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Biol Lett. 2007 Dec 22;3(6):682-4. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0410.
The validity of evolutionary explanations of vocal sexual dimorphism hinges upon whether or not individuals with more sexually dimorphic voices have higher reproductive success than individuals with less dimorphic voices. However, due to modern birth control methods, these data are rarely described, and mating success is often used as a second-rate proxy. Here, we test whether voice pitch predicts reproductive success, number of children born and child mortality in an evolutionarily relevant population of hunter-gatherers. While we find that voice pitch is not related to reproductive outcomes in women, we find that men with low voice pitch have higher reproductive success and more children born to them. However, voice pitch in men does not predict child mortality. These findings suggest that the association between voice pitch and reproductive success in men is mediated by differential access to fecund women. Furthermore, they show that there is currently selection pressure for low-pitch voices in men.
嗓音性别二态性的进化解释的有效性取决于嗓音性别二态性更明显的个体是否比嗓音性别二态性不那么明显的个体具有更高的繁殖成功率。然而，由于现代节育方法，这些数据很少被描述，交配成功率常常被用作次等的替代指标。在此，我们在一个与进化相关的狩猎采集人群中测试嗓音音高是否能预测繁殖成功率、生育子女数量和儿童死亡率。虽然我们发现嗓音音高与女性的繁殖结果无关，但我们发现嗓音音高低的男性具有更高的繁殖成功率且生育的子女更多。然而，男性的嗓音音高并不能预测儿童死亡率。这些发现表明，男性嗓音音高与繁殖成功率之间的关联是由接触生育能力强的女性的差异介导的。此外，它们表明目前存在对男性低音调嗓音的选择压力。
