Monogamy overcomes animality or instinct

Humans are really quite contradictory creatures. Males certainly retain many "tools" and "motives" that are helpful in possessing more females, but at the same time, humans also have many mechanisms and habits that can prevent fighting over competition for males that affects cooperation and even causes casualties, including monogamy.

Some people believe that the more advanced animals are, the more monogamous they are and the more loyal they are to each other. In fact, this view is a bit wishful thinking. Animals are animals, from the simplest protozoa to primates, their basic requirement is always to keep themselves alive and pass on their genes. To this end, all their behaviors, habits, etc. revolve around the above two purposes. As a member of the primate family, humans are actually just naked apes. It should be said that some human body structures, especially men's body structures, reveal their potential for promiscuity or polygamy.

Admit it or deny it, they all have the potential to mess around

Researchers have found in birds and sheep that males in populations where females have multiple sexual partners have larger testicles. From the perspective of genetic continuity, large testicles can produce more sperm, so when a female has multiple sexual partners, the sperm of a male with large testicles will have more opportunities. On the other hand, in a species that practices monogamy or has relatively stable mating relationships, there is no need for such large testicles.

Let's look at primates again. Chimpanzees are promiscuous creatures and never have fixed partners. Gorillas are different, where it is often just one male that keeps a close eye on a group of females. Consistent with their mating characteristics, chimpanzees' testicles weigh about 0.3% of their body weight and release about 600 million sperm at a time, while gorillas' testicles account for only 0.02% of their body weight and release only 50 million sperm at a time. In our case, our testicles usually account for 0.04% to 0.08% of our body weight, and we ejaculate 250 million sperm at a time, which is between chimpanzees and gorillas. This is an intriguing thing.

Male animals will do anything to ensure that a female becomes pregnant with their child. Damselflies are relatives of dragonflies. When male damselflies mate with female damselflies, the male will first use the hook-like structure on his genitals to empty the female damselfly's sperm vesicle as much as possible to ensure that he becomes the father. Male sharks will use special organs to flush the female shark's reproductive tract during mating. The males of some birds will peck the female's cloaca to allow the female to expel the semen of other male birds.

Among primates, only humans have a distinct glans penis, and one theory is that the mushroom-shaped structure helps scrape out a rival's semen during penetration. The weakness after ejaculation is also to prevent one's own semen from being brought out.

In addition, there is the "Coolidge effect" (named after the joke about President Coolidge and his wife visiting a chicken farm) in animals, especially male animals. This effect means that after an animal mates, it will experience a period of "lassitude", but if it encounters a new mating partner, it will quickly recover. People first discovered this phenomenon in rats. When estrus male and female rats were caged together, the male rat would not be so affectionate to the female rat after mating, but if a female rat was replaced, the male rat would immediately become excited. If several female rats were replaced in a row, the male rat would remain in good condition.

The same is true for humans. Although we cannot directly use men and women for the experiment, if we repeatedly show men a pornographic movie and suddenly insert a new movie in the middle, we can immediately tell that the men become excited again from the degree of their erections and their descriptions of their personal feelings. The significance of the Coolidge effect is probably that it allows males to seize every opportunity to impregnate as many females as possible.

Having said that, don't think that what is written above is an excuse for men to cheat and have affairs. It is just to explain that whether you admit it or deny it, like all animals, humans also retain many secret weapons and complex mechanisms that allow their genes to continue.

When it comes to having children, the relationship between the sexes is a crazy one.

Imagine if someone told you, I will invest 1 dollar and you will invest 10 million, if we lose, we will lose, and if we make money, we will share it in half - you will definitely think he is crazy. But when it comes to producing offspring, this is often the crazy relationship between males and females.

Take birds for example. The eggs laid by females of some species can weigh up to 15% of their body weight, and in the most extreme cases, even up to 30% of their body weight. And what about male birds? They can easily produce hundreds of millions of sperm. The same is true for mammals: females need to consume enormous amounts of nutrients and risk being hunted to become pregnant, give birth, and breastfeed, while males only need to provide sperm. However, in terms of gene transmission, females and males each pass on 50%.

So it seems that as long as the males work hard to sow seeds everywhere, isn't that enough? But in nature, that is only one situation. There are also many animals that choose monogamy. What's going on? In fact, although females invest huge amounts in giving birth to offspring, their return is a very reliable 50%, because the child is definitely hers, while promiscuous males cannot guarantee that every female is pregnant with his own seeds, let alone that his offspring will survive. As a result, different strategies can exist at the same time - one strategy is that males are promiscuous and have a wide range of offspring, or they keep a close eye on a group of females through competition . Another strategy is that males give up more mating opportunities and use their time and energy to ensure that a female produces more offspring, or they help females take care of their offspring and ensure that they mature.

In fact, species where females face enormous pressure to raise children will at least form couples during the breeding season, and females will not allow males to do whatever they want after paying a huge price. Female birds of many species will closely monitor their husbands' every move. Once there is a mistress plotting something ill, they will rush up and call and peck to drive away the guy who seduces the male bird.

Monogamy, how much animality and instinct does one have to overcome?

Humans are really quite contradictory creatures. Males certainly retain many "tools" and "motives" that are helpful in possessing more females, but at the same time, humans also have many mechanisms and habits that can prevent fighting over competition for males that affects cooperation and even causes casualties, including monogamy.

In his book The Naked Ape, Morris proposed that the loyalty and love of primitive humans helped reduce competition among males, increase cooperation in collective hunting, and help the growth of young children. In fact, dogs that engage in collective hunting also have similar pairing habits, while among primates, only the ancestors of humans who engage in collective hunting have monogamy. This is probably the inevitable result of a long evolutionary process. Moreover, although human females can only become pregnant when they ovulate, they do not have a distinct estrus period, which is very different from other mammals. Some people think that this can prevent males from fighting for mates when females are in heat, and also allow females to get pregnant with the male with whom they are most closely related.

In fact, the earliest clothing of mankind - the loincloth - also has this function. Generally, common animals walk on four legs, in which case it is difficult to see the animals' genitals. However, for primitive humans, because they walk upright, it is easy to expose their genitals. Adding clothes can help reduce sexual stimulation to the opposite sex and avoid many unnecessary impulses.

But then again, even within the same species and in the same environment, loyal partners and promiscuous prodigals have ample opportunities to pass on their genes. In fact, within a population, the faithful and the promiscuous can even reach a genetic balance.

Of the 1,231 pre-modern civilizations mentioned in the Ethnographic Atlas Codebook, 84.6% were polygamous, 15.1% were monogamous, and the remaining 0.3% were polyandrous. However, it should be pointed out that although the word "modern" appears in pre-modern society, it actually refers to a society whose main economic source is the extraction of resources from nature and farming.

Humans are a monogamous species, accounting for only 4% of all mammals. They have elevated this marriage system to the level of morality and culture. In the process, they have overcome a lot of animality and instincts.