Recent field studies of a variety of mammalian species reveal a
surprisingly high frequency of infanticide--the killing of unweaned
or otherwise maternally dependent offspring. Similarly, studies of
birds, fish, amphibians, and invertebrates demonstrate egg and
larval mortality in these species, a phenomenon directly analogous
to infanticide in mammals. In this collection, Hausfater and Hrdy
draw together work on animal and human infanticide and place these
studies in a broad evolutionary and comparative perspective.
"Infanticide" presents the theoretical background and taxonomic
distribution of infanticide, infanticide in nonhuman primates,
infanticide in rodents, and infanticide in humans. It examines
closely sex allocation and sex ratio theory, surveys the phylogeny
of mammalian interbirth intervals, and reviews data on sources of
egg and larval mortality in a variety of invertebrate and lower
vertebrate species. Dealing with infanticide in nonhuman primates,
two chapters critically examine data on infanticide in langurs and
its broader theoretical implications. By reviewing sources of
infant mortality in populations of small mammals and new laboratory
analyses of the causes and consequences of infanticide, this work
explores such issues as the ontogeny of infanticide, proximate cues
of infants and females which elicit infanticidal behavior in males,
the genetical basis of infanticide, and the hormonal
determinants.
Hausfater and Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, through their selection of
materials for this book, evaluate the frequency, causes, and
function of infanticide. Historical, ethnographic, and recent data
on infanticide are surveyed. "Infanticide" summarizes current
research on the evolutionary origins and proximate causation of
infanticide in animals and man. As such it will be indispensable
reading for anthropologists and behavioral biologists as well as
ecologists, psychologists, demographers, and epidemiologists.
"Glenn Hausfater" was professor at the division of biological
sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He is the author
of "Guidebook for the Long-Term Monitoring of Amboseli Baboons and
their Habitat; Dominance and reproduction in Baboons"; and "Early
Vegetation of the Illinois Valley." "Sarah Blaffer Hrdy" is
professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of California,
Davis. She is the author of "The Woman that Never Evolved; The
Langurs of Abu"; and "The Black-Man of Zinacantan."
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