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Monogamy may have a telltale signature of gene activity
In the animal world, monogamy has some clear perks. Living in pairs can give animals some stability and certainty in the constant struggle to reproduce and protect their young—which may be why it has evolved independently in various species. Now, an analysis of gene activity within the brains of frogs, rodents, fish, and birds suggests there may be a pattern common to monogamous creatures. Despite very different brain structures and evolutionary histories, these animals all seem to have developed monogamy by turning on and off some of the same sets of genes.
"It is quite surprising," says Harvard University evolutionary biologist Hopi Hoekstra, who was not involved in the new work. "It suggests that there's a sort of genomic strategy to becoming monogamous that evolution has repeatedly tapped into."
Conserved transcriptomic profiles underpin monogamy across vertebrates (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1813775116) (DX)
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Tuesday January 08 2019, @05:03PM (3 children)
With the exception of animals like preying manti that die after getting it on, lots of animals that appear to be monogamous are cheating on their partners. This is a useful adaptation, hedging bets that the primary partner is genetically a good combination with their own genes. And I used the term "cheating" because there's evidence that the partners attempt to deceive each other into thinking they're not getting it on with others.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday January 08 2019, @08:49PM (2 children)
You're trying to apply human concepts to animals.
They don't "appear to be" monogamous - they *are* monogamous, *socially* monogamous. Virtually no species on Earth is sexually monogamous - not even preying mantises, where contrary to popular myth, most males will survive any particular copulation. There's a species of fish where the male's body is actually permanently incorporated into the female's during mating, but that's the only sexually mongamous species that comes to mind.
As for "cheating" - there may be some species that attempt to hide the fact that they have sex with other partners from their mate, but the vast majority do not. In fact I can't offhand think of any other than humans that do so, can you expand on that?
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday January 08 2019, @09:29PM (1 child)
Some non-human species (admittedly closely related to humans) try to hide their infidelities:
- gelada monkeys [futurity.org]
- baboons [cbsnews.com]
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday January 09 2019, @04:04AM
Interesting.
Though I do wonder whether they are actually trying to hide the fact that they are dallying, rather than simply trying to avoid being interrupted in the act. A rather important distinction there I think, and in a small troupe where everybody knows each other's scent it's probably quite difficult to hide the who and when of such things. I wonder, do the dallying individuals avoid the leader (or stay downwind) more than usual until the scent would have a chance to fade?
Also have to love the fellow talking about how it's a pity that two individuals that obviously enjoy each other's company don't have their behavior corrected by the physical abuse of the troupe leader when they are caught. As though a violently enforced harem arrangement was some sort of holy sacrament.