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Male And Female Reproductive Strategies

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Male and Female Reproductive Strategies in Primates and Their Comparison to Humans
Simuel Lands
November 4, 2016
Research Paper/Anthropology 161

Male and Female Reproductive Strategies in Primates and Their Comparison to Humans

Introduction
The male and female primates have different reproductive strategies. The female’s approaches are similar in all the species while those of males differ according to the species that they belong (Bercovitch, 1991). Female primates invest in their offspring in terms of time and energy. They provide food for the infant even if it means competing with other females until the infant can look after itself. At this point, the female can focus on getting another offspring. However, the number of offspring that she will get is limited by the gestation and lactating periods (Winkler, 1988). Males do not contribute in the nurturing of the infant but may protect it from predators to some extent. The number of babies they can have is unlimited since they can mate with as many females as they want.
Food determines the reproductive success of females since it affects its birth rate and infant survival (Masters, 1983). The effort invested in mating determines the reproductive success of male primates. Human female reproductive success is as well dependent on nutrition since it determines the success of the gestation period and the survival of the infant. Women as well invest more in their offspring, similar to primates, while men perform

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