Marriage and Monogamous relationships overall - Term Paper Example

1However, “two lines of evidence suggest that the neural circuitry for human pair-bonding evolved with the basal radiation of the hominin stock, most likely with the hominin adaptation to the woodland.” The evolution of neural circuitry for hominin monogamy may have been caused by the emergence of facultative bipedalism. This is because bipedal ardipithecine, who had to carry their infants around, needed the provisioning and protection of a mate as they nursed their young ones. At the same time, ardipithecine males experienced a lot of difficulty provisioning and protecting a serial of females.

It was easier for a male to provide for and protect a single female and her infant. Difficulties experienced due to optional bipedalism and the expansion of the hominin into the woodland probably pressured ardipithecines over the threshold of monogamy. Social monogamy refers to a situation where the male and female species has a distinct partner of the opposite sex at a time. 2Arthur states that social monogamy “does not evolve from a common, single origin but arises independently through different evolutionary pressures and along different pathways in different lineages.

” Serial social monogamy may have evolved as a result of a number of characteristics linked to hominin adaptation to the expanding savannah eco-niche. . Individuals from hunting and gathering societies abandoned their young ones soon after weaning and from this time henceforth they became the responsibility of relatives and older siblings in the group. Therefore, ecological stress on couples in ancestral environments to remain together even after weaning their offspring would have been considerably minimized.

3“Moreover, ancestral hominins that practiced serial social monogamy, in association with offspring weaning would have created disproportionately more genetic variety in their lineages, an adaptive phenomenon.” According to Wilson, all known cases of monogamy may have evolved as a result of three biasing ecological conditions which are the facts that, 4“(1) the territory contains such a scarce and valuable resource that two adults are required to defend it against other animals; (2) the physical environment is so difficult that two adults are required to cope with it and (3) early breeding is so advantageous that the head start allowed by monogamous pairing is decisive.

” Majority of bird species are monogamous during the breeding season, monogamy provides greater defense in the search for territories with efficient food sources and scarce nest sites. Monogamy also acts as a tool for beating challenges presented by the physical environment. Due to the importance of the timing of breeding, a decisive edge is provided a mated pair cooperates. The kittiwake gull is a good example of an animal that has an early start in breeding, majority of breeding birds retains their mates form previous seasons.

Divisions of Monogamy 5Mathur defines monogamy as “Prolonged association and essentially exclusive mating relationship between one male and one female at a time.” Monogamy involves the smallest