Monogamy is the custom or condition of having only one mate in a relationship, thus forming a couple. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos "μονός", which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos "γάμος", which means marriage or union. Serial monogamy is having no more than one sexual partner at a time but allows for multiple partners in a lifetime.

Mating system

Monogamy is one of several mating systems observed in animals. The amount of social monogamy in animals varies across taxa, with over 90 percent of birds engaging in social monogamy but only 7 percent of mammals engaging in social monogamy. The incidence of sexual monogamy appears quite rare in the animal kingdom. It is becoming clear that even animals that are socially monogamous engage in extra-pair copulations.1

Evolution in animals

Socially monogamous species are scattered throughout the animal kingdom: A few insects, a few fish, a lot of birds, and a few mammals are socially monogamous. These species did not inherit social monogamy from a common ancestor. Instead, social monogamy has evolved independently in different species.

See also

• Affair
• Animal sexuality
• Cohabitation
• Divorce
• Evolution of monogamy
• Fluid monogamy
• Forms of nonmonogamy
• Group marriage
• Human bonding
• Incidence of monogamy
• Jealousy
• Marriage
• Mating system
• Open marriage
• Polyamory
• Polyfidelity
• Polygamy
• Psychology of monogamy
• Serial monogamy
• Swinging
• Value of monogamy
• Varieties of monogamy

Further reading

• Kleiman, Devra G. "Monogamy in Mammals". The Quarterly Review of Biology, 52.1 (March 1977): 39–69. Accessed 21 July 2008.

• Lehrman, Sally. "The Virtues of Promiscuity". July 22, 2002. AlterNet. Accessed 21 July 2008. On studies showing social and genetic benefits of promiscuity.

• Lim, Miranda M., et al. "Enhanced Partner Preference in a Promiscuous Species by Manipulating the Expression of a Single Gene".

• Reichard, Ulrich H., and Christophe Boesch (eds.). Monogamy: Mating Strategies and Partnerships in Birds, Humans and Other Mammals. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0521819733, ISBN 0521525772.

External links

• The Myth of Monogamy