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Monogamy May Have Evolved To Prevent Infanticide

Posted by samzenpus on from the a-modest-proposal dept.

sciencehabit writes "Human males and females have a strong tendency to live together in monogamous pairs, albeit for highly varied periods of time and degrees of fidelity. Just how such behavior arose has been the topic of much debate among researchers. A new study comes to a startling conclusion: Among primates, including perhaps humans, monogamy evolved because it protected infants from being killed by rival males."

2 of 256 comments (clear)

  1. Oh Please by The+Cat · · Score: -1, Troll

    What a fragrant load.

    Humans are not brought into heat by the absence of young, and killing offspring is directly opposed to the core of evolutionary theory, which rewards the widest possible range of mates to guarantee diverse genetic combinations and the maximum chances for survival and spread of strong genes.

    It's getting to the point where all you have to do is add "evolved" as the verb in any half-assed guess, and the neckbeards shout "amen!"

    Science is a fucking religion.

    1. Re:Oh Please by The+Cat · · Score: 1, Troll

      How does monogamy change who is in competition with whom? There is no evolutionary mechanism to enforce monogamy. From a purely genetic standpoint there is no benefit to monogamy for a strong male.

      Articles like this are just freeze dried beef pasta boiled up in 100 gallon vats and thrown to the neckbeards who gobble it up while slathering vaseline and yanking each other off.

      Shit isn't even pretending to be science any more. It's just some asshole in a lab coat leading a revivial in a Kentucky tent.