High rate of extrapair paternity in a human population demonstrates diversity in human reproductive strategies

Science Advances
Brooke A ScelzaB M Henn

Abstract

Among nonhuman species, social monogamy is rarely accompanied by complete fidelity. Evolutionary theory predicts that the rate of extrapair paternity (EPP) should vary according to socioecological conditions. In humans, however, geneticists contend that EPP is negligible and relatively invariable. This conclusion is based on a limited set of studies, almost all of which describe European-descent groups. Using a novel, double-blind method designed in collaboration with a community of Himba pastoralists, we find that the rate of EPP in this population is 48%, with 70% of couples having at least one EPP child. Both men and women were very accurate at detecting cases of EPP. These data suggest that the range of variation in EPP across human populations is substantially greater than previously thought. We further show that a high rate of EPP can be accompanied by high paternity confidence, which highlights the importance of disaggregating EPP from the notion of "cuckoldry."

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Citations

Mar 12, 2020·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Sean P Prall, Brooke A Scelza
Oct 20, 2020·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Renée C Firman
Jan 12, 2021·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Cécile GarciaSandrine Prat
Jun 29, 2021·American Journal of Human Biology : the Official Journal of the Human Biology Council·Ashley HazelJames Holland Jones
Jan 1, 2020·Evolutionary Human Sciences·Brooke A ScelzaBrenna M Henn
Nov 4, 2021·Doklady Biological Sciences : Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Biological Sciences Sections·O V Semenova, M L Butovskaya

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
Genotyping

Software Mentioned

KING
R script
MEGA
GenCall
Genome
Stan
Python
Genome Studio
PLINK
Studio

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