Male Reproductive Skew and Paternal Kin-Biased Behavior in Primates

Abstract

Primate societies and behaviors are complex. Behavior may be affected by both the environment and genes. Several approaches are used to investigate primate behavior. One deals with the way to examine the evolution of behavior. Sexual selection and kin selection theories are important for understanding the evolution of complex primate behavior. Data on male reproductive success and kin-biased behaviors are necessary to investigate these issues, and we cannot obtain such data without DNA analyses. Microsatellite markers can provide researchers with paternity and kinship information.