CAS WS 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Cooperative Breeding, Nuclear Family, Prolactin

• School: Boston University
• Department: Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
• Course: CAS WS 101
• Professor: Karen Warkentin

Document Summary

Human heritage and potential: shaped by evolution and development. Cooperative breeding: substantial care and provisioning of young by alloparents. Alloparental care individuals that care for young that are not their own offspring. Of all apes, humans produce largest, slowest maturing, most costly babies and we breed the fastest. Nutritional independence is at about 18 years: such hyper fertility is feasible only if mothers can count on assistance. Humans and callitrichids both have extra cute babies so that they don"t get abandoned engaging and gauging more likely to survive. Humans and callitrichids: breed fast, colonizers, very generous to others, excel in cooperation and social learning. In cooperative breeders, child rearing assistance may be voluntary it may also be coerced or compelled. Social species, especially cooperative breeders, can have strong social selection on females for access to the help and resources necessary for reproductive success. Evolution of cooperative breeding is associated with sexual monomorphism females become larger and more beautiful.