Mammal Societies

The book aims to integrate our understanding of mammalian societies into a novel synthesis that is relevant to behavioural ecologists, ecologists, and anthropologists. It adopts a coherent structure that deals initially with the characteristics and strategies of females, before covering those of males, cooperative societies and hominid societies. It reviews our current understanding both of the structure of societies and of the strategies of individuals; it combines coverage of relevant areas of theory with coverage of interspecific comparisons, intraspecific comparisons and experiments; it explores both evolutionary causes of different traits and their ecological consequences; and it integrates research on different groups of mammals with research on primates and humans and attempts to put research on human societies into a broader perspective.

Table of Contents:
Preface, xi Acknowledgements, xiii 1 Social evolution, 1 1.1 Origins, 1 1.2 Sociality and mating systems, 11 1.3 Reproductive competition, 13 1.4 Mate choice, 17 1.5 Parental care, 20 1.6 Cooperation, 24 1.7 Loaded labels, 34 References, 35 2 Female sociality, 47 2.1 Introduction, 47 2.2 Contrasts in female sociality, 47 2.3 Benefits of grouping, 53 2.4 Costs of grouping, 60 2.5 Sociality and fitness, 63 2.6 Comparative sociality, 65 2.7 The distribution of female sociality, 78 2.8 Group coordination, 79 2.9 Consequences of female sociality, 80 3 Female dispersal and philopatry, 94 3.1 Introduction, 94 3.2 Variation in female philopatry and dispersal, 96 3.3 Benefits of philopatry, 102 3.4 Benefits of dispersing, 104 3.5 Species differences in female philopatry, 111 3.6 Social and ecological consequences of female philopatry, 113 References, 115 4 Female mating decisions, 123 4.1 Introduction, 123 4.2 Direct benefits of mate choice to females, 128 4.3 Genetic benefits of mate choice to females, 128 4.4 Female mating preferences, 130 Maturity, 130 4.5 Mate choice copying, 142 4.6 Partner number and post-copulatory mate choice, 142 4.7 Variation in mate choice and partner number, 145 4.8 Consequences of female mating preferences, 146 References, 147 5 Maternal care, 156 5.1 Introduction, 156 5.2 The evolution of maternal care, 156 5.3 Prenatal investment, 162 5.4 Maternal effects, 166 5.5 Lactation and infant care, 170 5.6 Post-weaning investment, 176 5.7 Investment strategies, 180 5.8 Relationships between siblings, 182 5.9 Parent–offspring conflict, 185 5.10 Consequences of maternal care, 187 References, 188 6 Social development, 196 6.1 Introduction, 196 6.2 Social learning, 197 6.3 Social development, 203 6.4 Play, 204 6.5 Social knowledge, 205 6.6 Individual differences and personality, 210 6.7 Traditions, 212 References, 219 7 Communication, 226 7.1 Introduction, 226 7.2 Types of signal, 230 7.3 Signalling in theory and practice, 250 References, 255 8 Competition between females, 263 8.1 Introduction, 263 8.2 Competitive tactics, 267 8.3 Social structure and competition, 273 8.4 Conflict proliferation and limitation, 282 8.5 Consequences of female competition, 285 9 Cooperation between females, 298 9.1 Introduction, 298 9.2 Cooperation in different contexts, 298 9.3 Cheating in theory and practice, 322 9.4 The evolution of cooperation, 323 9.5 Consequences of cooperation, 324 References, 326 10 Mating systems, 333 10.1 Introduction, 333 10.2 Social monogamy, 335 10.3 Polygynous systems, 339 10.4 Genetic mating systems, 359 10.5 Consequences of polygyny, 360 11 Association between males, 373 11.1 Introduction, 373 11.2 Contrasts in the formation and structure of male groups, 373 11.3 Costs of association to males, 379 11.4 Benefits of association to males, 380 11.5 Kinship, familiarity, cooperation and hostility, 384 11.6 The size of male associations, 386 11.7 Contrasts in reproductive skew, 389 11.8 Consequences of male association, 391 References, 395 12 Male dispersal and its consequences, 401 12.1 Introduction, 401 12.2 Variation in dispersal rates by males, 401 12.3 The costs and benefits of dispersal to males,409 12.4 Secondary dispersal by males, 412 12.5 Sex differences in philopatry, 414 12.6 Dispersal distance, 416 12.7 The social and ecological consequences of male dispersal, 418 References, 421 13 Reproductive competition among males, 427 13.1 Introduction, 427 13.2 The benefits and costs of fighting, 427 13.3 Assessment and the evolution of maledisplays, 434 13.4 Adaptive fighting tactics, 445 13.5 Benefits and costs of mate guarding, 445 13.6 Adaptive guarding tactics, 447 13.7 Alternative tactics, 452 13.8 Sperm competition, 453 13.9 Consequences of reproductive competition between males, 456 References, 458 14 Relationships between males in multi-male groups, 466 14.1 Introduction, 466 14.2 The development of dominance, 467 14.3 Dominance and breeding success, 470 14.4 Reproductive skew in multi-male groups, 474 14.5 Dominance, condition and survival, 476 14.6 Coalitions and alliances, 477 14.7 Market models and the dynamics of supportive relationships, 482 14.8 Punishment, retaliation and reconciliation,482 14.9 The consequences of male hierarchies, 484 References, 486 15 Males and females, 493 15.1 Introduction, 493 15.2 Male mate choice, 494 15.3 Manipulation, 496 15.4 Coercion, 496 15.5 Female counter-strategies to male coercion,507 15.6 Male infanticide, 508 15.7 Female counter-strategies to male infanticide, 516 15.8 Post-copulatory sexual conflict, 521 15.9 Demographic consequences of sexual conflict, 521 References, 524 16 Paternal care, 532 16.1 Introduction, 532 16.2 The distribution of paternal care, 533 16.3 Control mechanisms, 543 16.4 Benefits and costs of paternal care, 545 16.5 Tactical investment, 547 16.6 Conflicts between parents, 548 16.7 Male care and the evolution of mating systems, 548 References, 551 17 Cooperative breeding, 557 17.1 Introduction, 557 17.2 Delayed dispersal, 562 17.3 Reproductive suppression, 564 17.4 Reproductive skew, 570 17.5 Benefits and costs of helping, 574 17.6 Division of labour, 580 17.7 Regulation of workload, 584 17.8 The evolution of cooperative breeding, 586 17.9 Consequences of cooperative breeding, 589 References, 594 18 Sex differences, 605 18.1 Introduction, 605 18.2 Body size, 606 18.3 Weaponry, 608 18.4 Ornaments, 610 18.5 Growth, 610 18.6 Nursing, 615 18.7 Social development, 618 18.8 Feeding ecology, 621 18.9 Mortality, 623 18.10 Sex ratios at birth, 626 18.11 Adult sex ratios, 631 References, 633 19 Hominins and humans, 643 19.1 Introduction, 643 19.2 Human evolution, 644 19.3 Life histories, 649 19.4 Sex differences, 653 19.5 Hominin and human societies, 663 19.6 Why us?, 671 References, 673 20 Human behaviour, 680 20.1 Introduction, 680 20.2 Mate choice, 681 20.3 Parental care, 687 20.4 Allo-parental care, 693 20.5 Cooperation, 698 20.6 The human condition, 713 References, 714 Index, 725

About the Author :
Professor Tim Clutton-Brock is one of the world's leading zoologists. As of 2008, he was the Prince Philip Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and head of the Large Animal Research Group at the Department of Zoology of the University of Cambridge, and a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. He also holds extraordinary professorships in the Department of Zoology and Entomology and the Mammal Research Institute of the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1987. He is an ISI Highly Cited researcher. He won the 1997 Frink Medal of the Zoological Society of London. In 2012, he was awarded the Darwin Medal from the Royal Society for his work on the diversity of animal societies and demonstration of their effects on the evolution of reproductive strategies, and the operation of selection and the dynamics of populations. Professor Clutton-Brock's early work was on social behaviour in primates. Much of his recent work focuses on three long-term studies: of red deer on the Scottish island of Rùm, of Soay sheep on St Kilda, and of meerkats in the southern Kalahari. He is one of the founders of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, the subjects of which are featured in the television programme Meerkat Manor, and the BBC's Natural World series.

Review :
"Mammal Societies is an authoritative and magnificently written synthesis of mammalian social behavior. As Tim Clutton-Brock states in the preface, his goal was to �. . .create an integrated account of mammalian societies. . .,� which he achieves with a seamless elegance honed through decades of long-term research on primates, ungulates, and carnivores. The book explains the fundamental theory underlying sociality, and then applies it to understand the diversity of mammalian behavior. Unlike previous syntheses that separate humans from non-human primates, and primates from non-primates, Clutton-Brock masterfully integrates his knowledge of these disparate literatures, and of behavioral diversity in general, to create a genuinely interesting and stimulating overview and synthesis of what we do and do not know about mammalian social behavioral diversity with implications for understanding ourselves.....Throughout, Clutton-Brock clearly deconstructs hypotheses and critically reviews both the logic and the data supporting them...Mammal Societies is a goldmine for graduate students and those establishing new studies about the adaptive value of sociality in any taxa. It would make an outstanding book to read in a graduate seminar and should be on the desk of any graduate student or academic interested in social behavior in any taxa...In summary, Mammal Societies is an intellectual tour de force that will become a citation classic and will set the stage for the next generation of studies on the adaptive value of sociality. Although not an easy read, it is a must read for anyone interested in the diversity of social behavior and its implications for population demography, and the evolution and maintenance of animal sociality..."(Journal of Wildlife Management-December 2016) Shortlisted for the British Ecological Society�s �Marsh Book of the Year Award 2017', which acknowledges the important role that books have on ecology and its development.