Pair Bond

In biology, a pair bond is the strong affinity that develops in some species between the male and female in a breeding pair. Pair-bonding, from 1940, is a term frequently used in sociobiology and evolutionary psychology circles and is typically meant to imply either a life-long monogamous relationship or a stage of mating interaction in socially monogamous species. It is sometimes used in reference to human relationships.

Pair bonding is also sometimes seen between individuals of the same sex, as demonstrated by behavior similar to that of male-female pair-bonded individuals. ^[1]

Varieties

According to evolutionary psychologists David Barash and Judith Lipton, from their 2001 book The Myth of Monogamy, there are several varieties of pair bonds:

Short-term pair-bond: a transient mating or associations
Long-term pair-bond: bonded for a significant portion of the life cycle of that pair
Life-long pair-bond: mated for the life of that pair
Social pair-bond: attachments for territorial or social reasons, as in cuckold situations
Clandestine pair-bond: quick extra-pair copulations
Dynamic pair-bond: e.g. gibbon mating systems being analogous to "swingers"

Examples

When discussing the social life of the bank swallow, Lipton and Barash state:

For about four days immediately prior to egg-laying, when copulations lead to fertilizations, the male bank swallow is very busy, attentively guarding his female. Before this time, as well as after—that is, when her eggs are not ripe, and again after his genes are safely tucked away inside the shells—he goes seeking extra-pair copulations with the mates of other males…who, of course, are busy with defensive mate-guarding of their own. It is unlikely that these chases are “sexual displays”, intending to enhance the pair-bond, as earlier literature in animal behavior has suggested. This is because:
males always chase females
males typically fight with other as an immediate result of such chases
when their own female is no longer fertile, mate males typically join in chases of other females
Thus, such males could not be solidifying an additional pair-bond, if only because no such “double-bonded” males have ever been found.
– Lipton and Barash, The Myth of Monogamy – Fidelity and Infidelity in Animals and People (2001)''

References

Barash, D. & Lipton, J. (2001). The Myth of Monogamy – Fidelity and Infidelity in Animals and People. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-7136-9

1. ^ Central Park Zoo's gay penguins ignite debate, ''San Francisco Chronicle, February 7, 2004

External links

The neurobiology of pair bonding, from Nature

Biology (from Greek: βίος, bio, "life"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge"), also referred to as the biological sciences, is the scientific study of life.
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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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Male (♂) refers to the sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilisation.
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Female (♀) is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces ova (egg cells). The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon is produced by the male.
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For the book by E. O. Wilson, see .

Sociobiology is a synthesis of scientific disciplines that attempts to explain social behavior in all species by considering the evolutionary advantages the behaviors may have.
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Evolutionary psychology (abbreviated EP) is a theoretical approach to psychology that attempts to explain mental and psychological traits—such as memory, perception, or language—as adaptations, i.e., as the functional products of natural selection.
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Monogamy is the custom or condition of having only one mate in a relationship, thus forming a couple. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos, which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos, which means marriage or union.
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A cuckold is a married man whose wife has sex with other men. In current usage it sometimes refers to non-married couples in committed relationships as well, although the traditional meaning is a man whose wife is adulterous.
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Hylobatidae
Gray, 1870

Genera

Hylobates
Hoolock
Nomascus
Symphalangus

Gibbons are the small apes in the family Hylobatidae.
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Swinging, sometimes referred to as the swinging lifestyle, is "non-monogamous sexual activity, treated much like any other social activity, that can be experienced as a couple.
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R. riparia

Binomial name
Riparia riparia
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The Sand Martin, (Riparia riparia) is a migratory passerine bird in the swallow family.
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The term human bond -- or, more generally, human bonding -- refers to the process or formation of a close personal relationship, as between a parent and child, especially through frequent or constant association.
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In psychology, the term affectional bond is a type of attachment behavior one individual has for another individual, typically a mother for her child, in which the two partners tend to remain in proximity to one another.
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Nature is a prominent scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869. Although most scientific journals are now highly specialized, Nature is one of the few journals, along with other weekly journals such as Science and
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Information about Pair Bond

Varieties

Examples

References

See also

External links

pair bond videos