Despite the widespread belief that natural is better when it comes to sex, pregnancy, and parenting, most of us have no idea what "natural" really means; the origins of our reproductive lives remain a mystery. Why are a quarter of a billion sperm cells needed to fertilize one egg? Are women really fertile for only a few days each month? How long should babies be breast-fed?
In "How We Do It," primatologist Robert Martin draws on forty years of research to locate the roots of everything from our sex cells to the way we care for newborns. He examines the procreative history of humans as well as that of our primate kin to reveal what's really natural when it comes to making and raising babies, and distinguish which behaviors we ought to continue--and which we should not. Although it's not realistic to raise our children like our ancestors did, Martin's investigation reveals surprising consequences of--and suggests ways to improve upon--the way we do things now. For instance, he explains why choosing a midwife rather than an obstetrician may have a greater impact than we think on our birthing experience, examines the advantages of breast-feeding for both mothers and babies, and suggests why babies may be ready for toilet training far earlier than is commonly practiced.
"How We Do It" offers much-needed context for our reproductive and child-rearing practices, and shows that once we understand our evolutionary past, we can consider what worked, what didn't, and what it all means for the future of our species.

If you had a complete copy of a dinosaur's DNA and the genetic code, you still would not be able to make a dinosaur--or even determine what one looked like. Why? How do animals get their shape and how does shape evolve? In this important book, Nobel laureate Gerald M. Edelman challenges the notion that an understanding of the genetic code and of cell differentiation is sufficient to answer these questions. Rather, he argues, a trio of related issues must also be investigated--the development of form, the evolution of form, and the morphological and functional bases of behavior. "Topobiology" presents an introduction to molecular embryology and describes a comprehensive hypothesis to account for the evolution and development of animal form.

Since the appearance of the second edition of Sydney A. Asdell's widely used Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction in 1964, the field of reproductive physiology has expanded dramatically. Accordingly, this revision adopts a different structure from previous editions, substituting empirical delineations for physiological interpretations. With the emphases now on a presentation of the published facts of mammalian reproduction, it provides a thorough compilation of what is known about the basic reproductive biology of each of the 4300 mammalian species.To gather information, the authors examined more than 20,000 publications, dating up to 1992. They used primary sources as much as possible, supplementing them with English translations of Russian, Finnish, Chinese, and Japanese journals. The data are presented in taxonomic order. Each familial account summarizes the pattern of reproduction for the family and provides lists of citations arranged by topic of the literature on the endocrinology, reproductive anatomy, and reproductive physiology of the family. Following each account is a tabular listing of species-specific data for neonatal mass and size, weaning mass and size, litter size, age at sexual maturity, estrous cycle length, gestation length, lactation length, number of litters per year, and seasonality of reproduction. For each of these reproductive variables, the range of data gleaned from the literature is given, together with the source of each value listed.Virginia Hayssen is Assistant Professor of Biology at Smith College. Ari Van Tienhoven is Professor of Animal Physiology, Emeritus, at Cornell University. Ans Van Tienhoven assisted in the compilation of data for the book.

When Charles Darwin first proposed Sexual Selection Theory, he suggested two mechanisms: competition among males and choice by females. Although their importance is long established and extremely well understood, their mirror images have remained largely underappreciated; males also choose, and females also compete. The combination of male mate choice (MMC) and female competition (FC) may be one of the most overlooked yet important and intriguing phenomena in modern sexual selection theory. This novel text reviews our current understanding of MMC and FC, highlighting the important connections between them. It places both concepts in the context of related fields such as female choice, mating systems, and sexual selection theory more broadly. A truly holistic approach is provided which takes all the relevant elements into consideration, especially the relative roles of MMC and FC, female ornamentation, their evolutionary consequences, and their genetic basis. Considering male mate choice and female competition in this way as effectively two sides of the same coin creates a powerful paradigm for a more complete understanding of sexual selection. Male Choice, Female Competition, and Female Ornaments in Sexual Selection is suitable for both graduate students and researchers interested in sexual selection from an evolutionary, psychological, and anthropological perspective. It will also appeal to a broader audience of behavioural ecologists and evolutionary psychologists.

Examining mating from the male perspective, this book provides an overview of mammalian reproduction to illustrate the important role that male desire plays in the life of mammals. Written in a conversational style that will appeal to those without specialist knowledge of the field, it begins with a broad overview of sexual reproduction in mammals, explaining the importance of mixing genes, sexual selection and the concept of mating seasons. Subsequent chapters examine some of the most important aspects in detail including mating behaviour, the structure and function of the male organs of reproduction and their physiological control and modes of copulation. A final chapter considers human reproduction, explaining how our physical and social evolution have contributed to the development of sexual behaviour that is markedly different to that of other mammals, due in particular to the absence of oestrus and seasonality in the human female.

Covering both the internal and external incubation of offspring, this book provides a biology-rich survey of the natural history, ecology, genetics, and evolution of pregnancy-like phenomena. From mammals and other live-bearing organisms to viviparous reptiles, male-pregnant fishes, larval-brooding worms, crabs, sea cucumbers, and corals, the world's various species display pregnancy and other forms of parental devotion in surprisingly multifaceted ways. An adult female (or male) can incubate its offspring in a womb, stomach, mouth, vocal sac, gill chamber, epithelial pouch, backpack, leg pocket, nest, or an encasing of embryos, and by studying these diverse examples from a comparative vantage point, the ecological and evolutionary-genetic outcomes of different reproductive models become fascinatingly clear.

John C. Avise discusses each mode of pregnancy and the decipherable genetic signatures it has left on the reproductive structures, physiologies, and innate sexual behaviors of extant species. By considering the many biological aspects of gestation from different evolutionary angles, Avise offers captivating new insights into the significance of "heavy" parental investment in progeny.

A unique interdisciplinary overview of the way mammals reproduce, this volume synthesizes research done by laboratory physiologists, behaviorists, population ecologists, and animal breeders. F. H. Bronson has drawn together the disparate literature in these areas to provide students and researchers with a comprehensive and biologically integrated approach to the study of mammalian reproduction.
Each chapter presents a wealth of issues and questions, summarizing the current consensus on interpretations as well as viable alternatives under debate. The book is principally concerned with how environmental factors regulate reproduction. Bronson proposes that a mammal's reproductive performance routinely reflects simultaneous regulation by several environmental factors that interact in fascinatingly complex ways. Environment is defined broadly, and the chapters give equal weight to ecological and physiological factors when considering how variables such as food availability, ambient temperature, photoperiod, and social cues interact to regulate a mammal's reproduction. Particular attention is given to seasonal breeding, and a taxonomically arranged chapter underscores the importance of comparative and evolutionary biology to an understanding of mammalian reproduction.
"Mammalian Reproductive Biology" is a powerful argument for the value and importance of interdisciplinary approaches to research. Its almost 1,500 references constitute the most comprehensive bibliography to date on this topic. Bronson also gives detailed consideration to promising areas for future research. Well organized, carefully planned, and clearly written, this book will become standard reading for scientistsconcerned with any aspect of mammalian biology.

If you have ever wondered why women always bite your head off or why one guy gets all the girls, if you have ever pondered why some men bring you balloons while others leave you their genitals, then Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation is the book for you. It explains all this and much more. It discloses the best time to have a sex change, how to have a virgin birth, when to seduce your sisters or eat your lover.

Quirky and brilliant, it takes as its starting point all creatures great and small worried about their bizarre sex lives, and the letters they write to the wise Dr Tatiana, the only agony aunt in all creation with a prodigious knowledge of both natural history and evolutionary biology.

The first thing children ask about sex is typically, "Where do babies come from?" This, the most perplexing scientific question of all time, was hailed by the ancient Greeks as "the mystery of mysteries". Throughout history the most intelligent and well-educated men and women have struggled to understand how we reproduce, and the full picture is far from complete. In the mid-17th century, a theory of reproduction - preformation - sparked an intensely heated debate that continued for over 100 years. Preformation proposed that miniature creatures waiting to be born existed inside each potential parent much like a Russian nesting doll. It was thought that God placed these beings during Creation and predetermined the precise moment that each would unfold and exist. In "The Ovary of Eve", Clara Pinto-Correia traces the fascinating and often-amusing history of this much-maligned theory, ultimately revealing its critical influence on the modern view of conception. Opinion on preformation was sharply divided. "Ovists" believed that preformed individuals existed in the egg, but "spermists" argued that the locus of perfection before birth was in the sperm. This controversy ranged beyond the narrow confines of biology. Most scholars were reluctant to allow perfection to women. After all, these debates occurred in a culture which held women responsible for the Fall and original sin and which saw women as imperfect or incomplete males. Yet spermism entailed a formidable moral dilemma, - why would God allow millions of preformed individuals to die with each ejaculate? Pinto-Correia recounts this controversy in all its complexity, revealing the religious, cultural and social climate of the day. Acknowledging that several modern authors have presented preformation as little more than an entertaining interlude in the study of reproduction, Pinto-Correia nonetheless seeks to recast preformation as an important theory with a precious legacy. Her book shows that the basic tenets understood by the old preformationists are still a crucial part of developmental biology and effect such state-of-the art techniques as cloning.

Reproduction is the biological process by which new individual organisms are produced. Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all known life; each individual organism exists as the result of reproduction. The known methods of reproduction are broadly grouped into two main types: sexual and asexual. In asexual reproduction, an individual can reproduce without involvement with another individual of that species. The division of a bacterial cell into two daughter cells is an example of asexual reproduction. Asexual reproduction is not, however, limited to single-celled organisms. Most plants have the ability to reproduce asexually. Sexual reproduction requires the involvement of two individuals, typically one of each sex. Normal human reproduction is a common example of sexual reproduction. Most animals and plants reproduce sexually. Sexually reproducing organisms have two sets of genes for every trait (called alleles). Offspring inherit one allele for each trait from each parent, thereby ensuring that offspring have a combination of the parents' genes. Having two copies of every gene, only one of which is expressed, allows deleterious alleles to be masked, an advantage believed to have led to the evolutionary development of diploidy. This book presents the latest research in the field from around the globe.

This unique volume of thirty essays, by fifty-three internationally known scholars, honours C.S. (Rufus) Churcher, the distinguished Canadian palaeontologist. The papers focus on late Cenozoic mammals in North America and Africa and provide both site-specific descriptions of faunas and their associated geological contexts, and more general syntheses of regional palaeoenvironments and biogeography. The volume provides a much-needed overview of current research. The stature of the researchers who have contributed to the volume, and the breadth of the material presented, is a reflection of Churcher’s diverse research interests. The first section contains eleven papers on the palaeoenvironment and palaeoecology of Quaternary mammals in North America; the second section has 9 contributions describing faunas and morphological analyses of North American Quaternary mammals; and the final section contains nine papers on the palaeoecology and palaeoenvironments of late Cenozoic mammals of Africa. In this final section, Alan Gentry pays tribute to Churcher by naming a species after him: Budorcas churcheri. The volume contains individual discussions of North American fossil prairie dogs, mastodons, zebras, short-faced bears, sabre cats, lions, giant armadillos, elk-moose, caribou and muskrats, as well as African hyaenas, zebras, hipparion horses, antelopes, rodents, and giraffes.

This two-volume textbook provides a comprehensive overview on the broad field of Animal Biotechnology with a special focus on livestock reproduction and breeding. The reader will be introduced to a variety of state-of-the-art technologies and emerging genetic tools and their applications in animal production. Also, ethics and legal aspects of animal biotechnology will be discussed and new trends and developments in the field will be critically assessed. The two-volume work is a must-have for graduate students, advanced undergraduates and researchers in the field of veterinary medicine, genetics and animal biotechnology. This first volume mainly focuses on artificial insemination, embryo transfer technologies in diverse animal species and cryopreservation of oocytes and embryos.

The first edition of The Endometrium was a landmark publishing event in reproductive biology and medicine. Many important developments have occurred in the field, and this new edition has been substantially updated and expanded to include new topics with an improved format. With the addition of several new authors and topics, the Second Edition of The Endometrium has developed new coverage of transcriptomics, stem cells, genetics and in-utero programming. Other new areas strengthen to include: placentology in human and animal models, taking account of the tremendous current interest in the maternal-fetal interface and its role in pregnancy pathology, neonatal and adult health. The layout has also been improved in order to aid browsing and cross-referencing. This is an invaluable up-to-date innovative text that will appeal to a worldwide spectrum of academic and professional readers including postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers in reproductive biology. As well as trainees and health care professionals in obstetrics and gynecology and allied disciplines such as assisted reproduction and oncology. A panel of internationally respected authors has been carefully chosen for their insight, clear, fair writing style and scholarly perspective.

This seven-volume series is the most extensive treatise on early life histories of the freshwater fishes of North America. It represents the state-of-the-art in fishery biology and provides a systematic approach to the study of early life histories of all the fishes in this region. Each volume contains distinguishing characteristics and a pictorial guide to the families of fishes in the OR Drainage, followed by chapters on the families. This series fills a gap in the literature, providing information on the spawning habitat requirements, reproductive behavior, and ecological relationships during the first few months of life for most species. This fifth volume examines the families aphredoderidae through sciaenidae.

The second of a two-part volume reviews major recent accomplishments in elucidating vitellogenic--egg maturation--processes at the cellular, biochemical, and molecular biological levels. The 12 articles focus on insects, for which vitellogenesis has been thoroughly researched. Among their topics are the biosynthesis and processing of insect vitello

During the past 20 years, transgenesis has become a popular technique and a crucial tool for molecular geneticists and biologists. Transgene expression is now better-controlled and even specifically inducible by exogenous factors. While these techniques have quite significantly transformed the experimental approaches taken by biologists, the applications are more limited than expected and concerns have arisen regarding biosafety as well as physiological, social, and philosophical issues.
Transgenic Animals: Generation and Use contains articles on the techniques used to generate transgenic animals and a section on the preparation of vectors for the optimally controlled expression of transgenes. It also examines the use of transgenic animals in the study of gene function and human diseases, the preparation of recombinant proteins and organs for pharmaceutical and medical use, and the improvement of genetic characteristics of farm animals. Finally, it discusses more recent problems generated by transgenic animals including conservation of transgenic lines, specific database patenting, biosafety, and bioethics.
Drawn from both academia and industry, the contributors to this monograph present in one concise volume all the relevant information on the different aspects of transgenesis. This book can be used as both a reference book and a textbook for specialized university courses and will be of interest to everyone involved in basic research in animal biology, molecular genetics, animal biotechnology, pharmaceutical science, and medicine.

This important publication provides, for the first time, a comprehensive review of knowledge of reproductive seasonality in teleosts. It addresses why a particular species should show such seasonality, and how environmental cues act as regulators to ensure that reproductive maturation and breeding occur at the optimum time. The book considers the ultimate factors responsible for the evolution of reproductive seasonality in fish. It reviews salient concepts of reproductive seasonality in mammals. This volume also includes a review of accumulated knowledge of the control mechanisms of salmonids, gasterosteids, temperate cyprinids, cyprinodonts and other brackish-water forms, and marine and tropical freshwater teleosts. This is a work of value to research scientists in the field of environmental physiology, reproductive biology, and comparative neuroendocrinology and endocrinology. In addition, it is relevant for institutions involved with aquaculture and fisheries management. It is useful for post-graduate as well as undergraduate courses in fish biology and various related subjects.