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fandomhigh2011-02-10 09:09 am
bootlessjane.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2011-02-10 09:09 am
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Primatology; Thursday, Fourth Period [ 02/10 ].
"Good afternoon, class," Jane greeted the students with a smile. "I hope your weeks are going well, and I know there's an exciting weekend ahead of us, so I hope you might be able to pull in at least enough attention for class today. On the bright side, with all this romance that seems to be clogging the air today, we're at least being topical, because today we're discussing mating habits.
"Now, primate mating habits are incredibly varied, just as mating habits among humans can be. Some primates practise monogamy, having only one partner at a time, while others are polygamous, with many partners, usually male dominated to better increase the chances of reproduction, however there are occasional examples of a few new world monkeys that practice polyandry, where the female primate is the one with multiple male mates, and a few primates, such as the ever mischievous chimp, are simply practisers of promiscuity, meaning they don't have any particular mating partners, and will just go any which way with anyone who might be available, without really forming a particular structure of mating pairs or groups.
"In most primate species, you see, the females congregate spatially in small, stable groups, usually based around a good source of food. And then males congregate where the females congregate. Another consideration is the long interbirth intervals that create a situation in which there are only a few reproductively active females per sexually active male. These factors usually set the stage for intense male-male competition for the limited number of fertile females, and polygyny typically results, to make the most out of the reproductive capabilities.
"Approximately 18 percent of primate species do practise monogamy, and there are a few factors involved in that. There may be limited mating opportunities among that species, but, usually, it is a high investment in the offspring that ties one monogamous primate to a single female. You see quite a bit of that in why humans are so monogamous. Males in monogamous mating patterns tend to have a high confidence in their ability to procreate, thus diminishing the need to attempt fertilizing more females to increase their chances of passing his genes onto the next generation. Unlike humans, there is less sexual dimorphism in monogamous primate mating systems, but, much more like humans, it tends to inspire quite a bit of sexual aggression and territorial behaviour amongst the primates.
"It is interesting to see how the development of certain mating systems among primates come about, from the economical ability to defend only one female inspiring monogamy, to how not having to monopolizing territory leads to not monopolizing females and thus leading to promiscuity.
"Now, as primatologist, what we want to do with our knowledge of primate mating habits is observe them not only to be mindful of how our primate friends will continue to grow in number, but also as a reflection of our own mating habits. We can look at the more primitive, basic structures of how, say, the gorilla, the ape, or the chimpanzee pursues its mates to put an interesting perspective on our own concepts of mating and romance and marriage and love or whatever function we have developed that we believe are so refined and sophisticated but really might have a much more primal underlying that we can see displayed much more frankly in the mating habits of primates.
"So let's have a discussion, and now we are really getting into primatologist territory, using primate activity to consider our own habits and tendencies and better understanding what drives homo sapien. What are your own personal beliefs on human mating? How does it compare to some of the mating habits of our primate friends? What, culturally or biologically, do you think might drive humans to consider things like romance and love so heavily? Do you think certain primates might also take these things into consideration, or is it mostly the need to procreate their drives their mating systems? Who would like to start?"
[[ OCDon the way is up! ]]
"Now, primate mating habits are incredibly varied, just as mating habits among humans can be. Some primates practise monogamy, having only one partner at a time, while others are polygamous, with many partners, usually male dominated to better increase the chances of reproduction, however there are occasional examples of a few new world monkeys that practice polyandry, where the female primate is the one with multiple male mates, and a few primates, such as the ever mischievous chimp, are simply practisers of promiscuity, meaning they don't have any particular mating partners, and will just go any which way with anyone who might be available, without really forming a particular structure of mating pairs or groups.
"In most primate species, you see, the females congregate spatially in small, stable groups, usually based around a good source of food. And then males congregate where the females congregate. Another consideration is the long interbirth intervals that create a situation in which there are only a few reproductively active females per sexually active male. These factors usually set the stage for intense male-male competition for the limited number of fertile females, and polygyny typically results, to make the most out of the reproductive capabilities.
"Approximately 18 percent of primate species do practise monogamy, and there are a few factors involved in that. There may be limited mating opportunities among that species, but, usually, it is a high investment in the offspring that ties one monogamous primate to a single female. You see quite a bit of that in why humans are so monogamous. Males in monogamous mating patterns tend to have a high confidence in their ability to procreate, thus diminishing the need to attempt fertilizing more females to increase their chances of passing his genes onto the next generation. Unlike humans, there is less sexual dimorphism in monogamous primate mating systems, but, much more like humans, it tends to inspire quite a bit of sexual aggression and territorial behaviour amongst the primates.
"It is interesting to see how the development of certain mating systems among primates come about, from the economical ability to defend only one female inspiring monogamy, to how not having to monopolizing territory leads to not monopolizing females and thus leading to promiscuity.
"Now, as primatologist, what we want to do with our knowledge of primate mating habits is observe them not only to be mindful of how our primate friends will continue to grow in number, but also as a reflection of our own mating habits. We can look at the more primitive, basic structures of how, say, the gorilla, the ape, or the chimpanzee pursues its mates to put an interesting perspective on our own concepts of mating and romance and marriage and love or whatever function we have developed that we believe are so refined and sophisticated but really might have a much more primal underlying that we can see displayed much more frankly in the mating habits of primates.
"So let's have a discussion, and now we are really getting into primatologist territory, using primate activity to consider our own habits and tendencies and better understanding what drives homo sapien. What are your own personal beliefs on human mating? How does it compare to some of the mating habits of our primate friends? What, culturally or biologically, do you think might drive humans to consider things like romance and love so heavily? Do you think certain primates might also take these things into consideration, or is it mostly the need to procreate their drives their mating systems? Who would like to start?"
[[ OCD
Listen to the Lecture - Primatology, 02/10.