Inbreeding, kin selection, and primate social evolution

Abstract

In this paper I argue (a) that the study of kin selection may be facilitated by looking for influences of inbreeding, which is an important aspect of a population's genetic structure; (b) that in nonhuman primates the level of inbreeding will be largely a function of the rate of migration by individuals, usually only of one sex, between social units or troops; (c) that many primate species live in relatively outbred groups, and that their social structure reflects this; and (d) that extensive social contrasts between bonnet and pigtail macaques reflect evolution by kin selection under different levels of inbreeding. © 1979 Japan Monkey Centre.