Monogamy

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Monogamy is the custom or condition of having only one mate. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos, which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos, which means marriage or union.

Contents

[edit] Animals

[edit] Mating System

Main article: Animal sexuality

Monogamy is one of several mating systems observed in animals. The amount of social monogamy in animals varies across taxa, with over 90 percent of birds engaging in social monogamy but only 3 percent of mammals engaging in social monogamy. The amount of sexual monogamy appears quite rare in the animal kingdom. It is becoming clear that even animals that are socially monogamous engage in extra-pair copulations.[1]

[edit] Evolution in Animals

Main article: Evolution of Monogamy

Socially monogamous species are scattered throughout the animal kingdom. A few insects are socially monogamous; a few fish are socially monogamous; a lot of birds are socially monogamous; and a few mammals are socially monogamous. These species did not inherit social monogamy from a common ancestor. Instead, social monogamy has evolved independently in different species.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Korotayev, Andrey (2004). World Religions and Social Evolution of the Old World Oikumene Civilizations: A Cross-cultural Perspective, First Edition, Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 0-7734-6310-0. 

[edit] See also

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[edit] Miscellaneous

Monogamy® is also the name of an adult game devised for two consenting adults.

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