Komers P E, Brotherton P N
Department of Zoology, Uppsala University, Sweden.
Proc Biol Sci. 1997 Sep 22;264(1386):1261-70. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1997.0174.
Monogamy is typically considered to have evolved either because biparental care is important for offspring survival, or because males are unable to monopolize more than one female due to females being too dispersed. Here, in the first phylogenetic analysis of the evolution of monogamy in mammals, we show that neither of these explanations is consistent with the distribution of monogamy across mammal species. Monogamy evolved significantly more often in the absence of paternal care than in its presence. Furthermore, monogamy does not normally occur in species where female ranges are large. Rather, the most common feature of mammalian monogamy is that it evolved where females were solitary and occupied small, exclusive ranges, enabling males to monopolize them.
通常认为，一夫一妻制的进化要么是因为双亲照料对后代生存至关重要，要么是因为雌性分布过于分散，雄性无法独占多个雌性。在此，在对哺乳动物一夫一妻制进化的首次系统发育分析中，我们表明，这些解释均与一夫一妻制在哺乳动物物种中的分布情况不符。在没有父系照料的情况下，一夫一妻制的进化比有父系照料时更为频繁。此外，一夫一妻制通常不会出现在雌性活动范围较大的物种中。相反，哺乳动物一夫一妻制最常见的特征是，它是在雌性独居且占据小范围专属领地的情况下进化而来的，这使得雄性能够独占它们。
