Clutton-Brock - Mammal Societies

This edition first published 2016 2016 by Tim Clutton-Brock

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Clutton-Brock, T. H.

Title: Mammal societies / Tim Clutton-Brock.

Description: Chichester, West Sussex : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015040498 | ISBN 9781119095323 (cloth)

Subjects: LCSH: Mammals.

Classification: LCC QL703 .C57 2016 | DDC 599--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015040498

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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The core of Darwin's theory of natural selection is the realisation (based on Malthus's demographic projections) that the rate of population increase will inevitably lead to competition between individuals for resources and reproductive opportunities, and that competition will favour individuals that are well adapted to the environments they live in, with the result that their heritable characteristics will increase in future generations. Empirical research on population ecology since Malthus has provided extensive evidence to support Darwin's argument, while research in evolutionary biology and population genetics has confirmed that favourable mutations are likely to spread.

Natural selection adapts animals to the ecological niches that they occupy. Early explorations of animal adaptation mostly examined relationships between anatomical traits and the challenges imposed on different species by their physical environments. More recently, research has documented the impact of the social environment on the selection pressures operating on both sexes and on the evolution of behavioural, physiological and anatomical adaptations. In addition, an increasing range of studies have explored the consequences of contrasts in social organisation and the adaptations they generate for ecological processes within and between species, as well as for other areas of biology, including population genetics, epidemiology and conservation biology.

While there have been excellent reviews of the social behaviour of particular Orders of mammals, there have been few attempts to integrate research across mammalian groups and more extensive reviews of social organisation are available for ants and birds than for mammals. My aim in writing this book was to produce an integrated account of the evolution of mammalian societies within the framework provided by theoretical and empirical research on social evolution. As one of the main reasons for studying animal societies is to provide a general perspective on studies of the evolution of human societies, I particularly wanted to integrate research on primates with studies of other mammalian groups in order to explore the extent to which studies of non-human mammals (including non-primates as well as primates) provide insight into the evolution of hominin societies and human behaviour. Finally, as well as exploring the evolution of variation in the structure and organisation of mammalian societies, I wanted to examine what is known of the consequences of variation in social behaviour and breeding systems for ecological processes.

In contrast to birds, most mammals are polygamous and the structure of mating systems has important effects on the selection pressures operating on females and males and the distribution of sex differences in anatomy, physiology and behaviour. In many mammalian species, different factors determine the distribution of the two sexes: while the need to maintain access to adequate resources and to avoid predation commonly structures the distribution and behaviour of females, selection to maximise access to females often has a more important influence on the distribution and behaviour of males. As a result, although the behaviour of the two sexes coevolves, it is often useful to consider the behaviour of females and males separately. I have consequently organised the book to focus first on the behaviour and reproductive strategies of females and then on those of males. The first chapter provides a brief review of the body of theory relevant to the evolution of social behaviour that has built up over the last 40 years. provide an introduction to related research on the evolution of breeding systems and social behaviour in hominins and humans.

I owe an enormous debt to the large number of people that contributed in different ways to this book. In particular, I am deeply indebted to my wife, Dafila Scott, who has provided continuous support and encouragement; to Katy McAuliffe, who produced syntheses of material for six chapters and comments on others as well as vital encouragement at a time when progress had stalled; and to Penny Roth, who has typed, corrected and retyped all chapters multiple times.

For reading and for generous commenting on drafts that allowed me to improve them, I am grateful to Matt Bell (). Any mistakes that remain are, of course, my own. I am also grateful to a large number of people for helping me to locate suitable photographs or for allowing me to use their images.

Dieter Lukas regularly provided relevant papers and useful discussion. In the later stages of production, Bonnie Metherell, Rebecca Stanley, Alex Thompson, Tom Houslay, Gabrielle Davidson, Samantha Leivers and Andrew Szopa-Comley helped me to find photographs and references, and obtain permissions to use images and figures. A large number of colleagues helped me to locate relevant photographs, including Karen Strier, John Hoogland, Carel van Schaik, Tim Caro, Sarah Hrdy, Nigel Bennett, Elise Huchard, Robert Seyfarth, Claudia Fichtel, Dan Rubenstein and Kelvin Matthews. At Wiley-Blackwell, I am grateful to Ward Cooper who originally commissioned the book; to Jolyon Phillips for his meticulous copy-editing; to Kelvin Matthews for his role in organising permissions and in guiding the development of the manuscript; to Kathy Syplywczak for organising the text; and to Emma Strickland for arranging the cover design.