I am studying biology, and I am just finished with a module about ethology, which is the study of animal behaviour. Within this topic there are several topics, but one of the weirder ones are the ones about social and sexual relations when it comes to mating. Even though monogamy is the rule (at least traditionally, in the western world) among humans, that is definitely not the case among animals (I am going to draw a line of distinction here, because that is comfortable to me. I know that humans are a type of animal, but I decide here). In this topic, I have been introduced to not only monogamy, but polygyny, polyandry, and even polygynandry.
These are different social and sexual structures within populations of animals (and often humans as well). We are all acquainted with monogamy, or rather, as in today's society, serial monogamy. This is quite uncommon among animals, but some birds have this kind of relationship, and one of the reasons is that the care of their young takes a team effort. But then we have the other types of social and sexual relationship styles.
The most familiar of these is polygyny, or polygamy, which it is often called in humans. This is where one male has several female partners. This is quite normal, and in the species who have this, the females are often (but not always) left alone with the care of their young. The opposite arrangement also exists, where one female has several male partners. This is not very common, but in species with reversed gender roles, this can be quite common.
But the REALLY messed up thing in nature is polygynandry. Both females and males have multiple partners, but it's not a 'group sex' type of thing. In the example we studied, there were sophisticated social structures around this. One female had one to three male partners, and each of the males had one to three females total. Then there was the business of rank within the three males who had the one female, and to me, it just looked really complex.
So yeah, nature has a lot of weird things going on. And I haven't even touched upon the matter of homosexuality or strange ways of reproducing or weird courting systems and performances. But I will say one thing: birds are so much more diverse and interesting than I thought (most of the examples we had were from birds). But just remember that among humans, you find societies with monogamy, polygamy, and polyandry, so it's not just really weird (even though polygynandry is not the norm in any societies of humans that I know of, so to me, it is really weird).
I am sorry if this was a bit long, but I am trying to make up for the fact that I haven't written in a while (not really, it just became long). Here is a funny song about animal sex to make up for it.
Books read: 44
Pages read: 12507
These are different social and sexual structures within populations of animals (and often humans as well). We are all acquainted with monogamy, or rather, as in today's society, serial monogamy. This is quite uncommon among animals, but some birds have this kind of relationship, and one of the reasons is that the care of their young takes a team effort. But then we have the other types of social and sexual relationship styles.
The most familiar of these is polygyny, or polygamy, which it is often called in humans. This is where one male has several female partners. This is quite normal, and in the species who have this, the females are often (but not always) left alone with the care of their young. The opposite arrangement also exists, where one female has several male partners. This is not very common, but in species with reversed gender roles, this can be quite common.
But the REALLY messed up thing in nature is polygynandry. Both females and males have multiple partners, but it's not a 'group sex' type of thing. In the example we studied, there were sophisticated social structures around this. One female had one to three male partners, and each of the males had one to three females total. Then there was the business of rank within the three males who had the one female, and to me, it just looked really complex.
So yeah, nature has a lot of weird things going on. And I haven't even touched upon the matter of homosexuality or strange ways of reproducing or weird courting systems and performances. But I will say one thing: birds are so much more diverse and interesting than I thought (most of the examples we had were from birds). But just remember that among humans, you find societies with monogamy, polygamy, and polyandry, so it's not just really weird (even though polygynandry is not the norm in any societies of humans that I know of, so to me, it is really weird).
I am sorry if this was a bit long, but I am trying to make up for the fact that I haven't written in a while (not really, it just became long). Here is a funny song about animal sex to make up for it.
Books read: 44
Pages read: 12507
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