Well if ever one wished to mix fictional "pop-science" with religion I guess Xianism is the way to go.

We have all the evidence we need, people have been writting things down for a long long time.

And yes I am saying that monogamy is "one of" the several reproduction behaviors that are indeed hardwired into our brains, shrugs, its basic anthropology 101 and yes, primates can be monogamous as well as: a single female and her offspring with limited to no regular contact with her mate outside the mating ritual, or be one-male in a several-female group, or in some cases the less common polyamourous multimale-multifemale group, or a polyandrous family group or a fission-fusion societal model.

While there is considerable variation in social group composition among the primates, there is very little variability within each species. In fact, most non-human primate species are limited to only one of six basic patterns I just mentioned. Humans are an exception in that we form a variety of social group patterns and may even change our pattern, which is just part of evolution in action and to be expected since we are further along than our cousins and obviously more succefful at the whole evolution thing so far. However, each human society usually defines one of them as being acceptable and condemns the others. Only the multimale-multifemale group pattern is not normally found in any human society as the norm. And the one that is ussually considered acceptable is monogamy or patriarchial polygamy.

Most of this is becuause of how one's hardwiring predisposes one to adaptation to their enviroment more so than personal choice does as some groups of primates have found diffrent strokes work best for different primates in different situations depending on the degree or socialization required for survival in their area/ ie enviroment.

The single female and her offspring group pattern altough rare for primates but very common for other mammals. It is found among the orangutans and some of the small nocturnal prosimians (e.g., mouse lemurs and galagos). The adult males lead their lives mostly alone. However, they come together with females occasionally for mating. The males of these species generally have large territories that overlap those of several females. Both male and female children usually leave their mother when they reach sexual maturity.

Monogamous groups consist of an adult male and female with their children. When they are grown, the children leave to create their own nuclear families. While this group pattern is the most common one for humans, it does also exist for non-human primates. It is found paticularly among the small Asian apes as well as some of the New World monkeys and prosimians. Specifically, monogamous family groups are the common pattern for gibbons, siamangs, titi monkeys, indris, tarsiers, and apparently some pottos.

The smallest New World monkeys, the marmosets and tamarins, form both monogamous and polyandrous family units. They generally start with a monogamous mating pair. Later, a second adult male may join the family and assist in child rearing. When this occurs, both adult males will potentially mate with the adult female. This polyandrous mating pattern is extremely rare among non-human primates but does occur in some human societies in isolated rural regions of India, Sri Lanka, and especially Nepal, and Tibet.

One-male-several-female groups have polygynous mating patterns. That is to say, one male regularly mates with more than one female. Polygyny is generally not a promiscuous mating pattern. Rather, the male and his female mates form a distinct mating and child rearing group. This pattern is found among hamadryas baboons, geladas, langurs, howler monkeys, gorillas and many human societies. It has been a culturally preferred marriage pattern in numerous Native American, African, and South Asian cultures. However, polygyny is not as common among humans as monogamy, even in cultures that advocate it.


It would be a mistake to automatically assume that non-human primate one-male-several-female groups are dominated by males. Among geladas, females largely control the social group. This is despite the fact that the males are larger, stronger, and more aggressive. Mothers, sisters, and aunts act as a team in chasing off other unrelated females. They also collectively select their mutual mate among a number of potential suitors roaming in and out of their territory. The male that is chosen usually is one that does not act abusively towards them and is willing to cooperate with them in defending their territory. The relationship with any particular male may be short-term. The stable core of the community is the group of related females. This is a long way from stereotypical male domination.

But as one can see in the following example one's enviroment has a lot to do with it:

One-male-several female groups may take a different form when predator pressure is a problem. (and may take a different form again if the enviroment becomes heavily urbanized...obviously) In open grasslands, hamadryas baboon communities are much larger, often consisting of a number of polygynous families. In such multiple one-male-several-female group societies, males are the dominant, controlling members. The adult males not only "herd" their own sexually mature females, but also maintain order and protect the community from predators. This is not unlike the traditional Arab polygynous marriage pattern in which wealthy men acquire harems.

In contrast, gorillas rarely have to be concerned about predator dangers. Subsequently, their communities usually consist of a single dominant adult male, his mates, and their children. When males reach maturity, they usually are driven off by the dominant silverback male. These exiled males ultimately form their own one-male-several-female groups. As females reach sexual maturity, they also leave their natal families and disperse. They later join with single males to form new families or they join the families of males who already have mates. When the silver back males have unusually peaceful personalities, the gorilla community may have several of them.

The most common social group pattern among semi-terrestrial primates is the multimale-multifemale group. This is most likely the partern we originally developed from, but again, its all dependent on predominate enviromental conditions and success rates. With this pattern, there are no stable heterosexual bonds--both males and females have a number of different mates. This is characteristic of savanna baboons, macaques, as well as some colobus and New World monkey species.

Multimale-multifemale groups commonly have a dominance hierarchy among both males and females (just like we humans). Each individual is ranked relative to all other community members of the same gender. This tends to reduce serious violence within the community since everyone knows in advance who they must defer to and who must be submissive to them. Among rhesus macaques, one's position in the dominance hierarchy is determined by the rank of his or her mother. The top ranking individuals are referred to by primatologists as the alpha male and the alpha female. All other community members defer to them. A female's rank in the hierarchy stays with her throughout life. However, most young adult male rhesus macaques leave their natal community and ultimately join others to find mates. When they do so, they start at the bottom of the male dominance hierarchy again. Alpha males usually mate more often than others. This makes the social organization superficially look like one-male-several-female group. However, younger females often sneak off to mate with males lower down on the dominance hierarchy. The stable core of rhesus macaque communities is the group of female relatives. They stay within their natal community throughout life and work as a team to defend it against other females.

A fission-fusion society is one in which the social group size and composition change throughout the year with different activities and situations. This is a variation of the precceeding patern and some humans still follow this as their back up even while pursuing a monogamous relationship. This is the social pattern typical of chimpanzees. Individuals enter and leave communities from time to time. Adult males occasionally wander off and forage alone or join a few other males in a hunting party. Females casually change membership from one group to the other. This occurs especially when females are in estrus and seeking mates. As a result, foraging and sleeping groups reform frequently. Male chimps are the relatively stable core of the community since they rarely join other troops.

What allows for the generally loose relationship between chimpanzee communities is that they apparently recognize a wider range of social bonds than do monkeys. They often have relatives and friends in several different neighboring troops. When chimpanzee communities come together, they usually exchange friendly greetings rather than show aggression. However, it would be a mistake to assume from this that chimpanzee society is always peaceful. The adult males within each community are frequently engaged in complex political activities involving scheming and physical intimidation in order to move up the dominance hierarchy. They develop short-term alliances with other males by mutual support, sharing meat, and allogrooming (grooming others). It isn't always the largest and strongest males who make it to the top of the hierarchy. Often teamwork used to frighten and impress is more effective than any one individual's muscles in achieving chimpanzee goals. This is an indication of their intelligence.

Chimpanzees are not the only primates that change group membership from time to time. For instance, adult rhesus macaque males usually must permanently leave the community of their birth and try to join others in order to find mates. This is not easy since they are not warmly welcomed in their adoptive troop. Group composition of some langur and baboon species also change as a result of the availability of food and mates. Evidently, none of these monkey species change group composition with the ease and frequency of chimpanzees. As a result, their societies are not usually referred to as fission-fusion types.

Behavioral differentiation of male and female primates involves more than just mating behavior. Males are usually larger and physically dominant over females. Extreme sexual dimorphism is particularly characteristic of the semi-terrestrial monkeys and great apes. The manner in which male and female children are socialized often differs. Following infancy, age-based play groups are usually the primary socializing group for males. These juvenile male cohorts often spend much of their time on the fringes of the troop territory in active physical play. For example, nearly half of the waking hours of young male gorillas are spent in rough play. This is comparable to the amount of time human children play if given the opportunity. For most non-human primates, play is critical for developing social bonds and social skills. Young female monkeys and apes are more often socialized in the safer areas of the community territory by their mothers and other older female relatives. Their play is usually less rough and focuses more on developing parenting skills and social ties among the females with whom they usually spend their lives. As adults, male primates are more likely to leave the community to join roaming bachelor groups and eventually join other communities.

The effects of mordern urbanization have as yet to be determined, but nothing so far in our behavior points to a majior evolutionary change tacking place in levels of monogamy vs non-monogamous pairings that we havent allready recorded from past urbanization periods.