Voice pitch predicts reproductive success in male hunter-gatherers

The validity of evolutionary explanations of vocal sexual dimorphism hinges upon whether or not individuals with more sexually dimorphic voices have higher reproductive success than individuals with less dimorphic voices. However, due to modern birth control methods, these data are rarely described,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biology letters (2005) 2007-12, Vol.3 (6), p.682-684
Main Authors: Apicella, C.L, Feinberg, D.R, Marlowe, F.W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Choice Behavior
Evolutionary Biology
Female
Humans
Male
Mating
Middle Aged
Multivariate Analysis
Pitch Discrimination
Reproduction
Reproductive History
Reproductive Success
Sex Characteristics
Sexual Behavior
Voice
Voice Pitch
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The validity of evolutionary explanations of vocal sexual dimorphism hinges upon whether or not individuals with more sexually dimorphic voices have higher reproductive success than individuals with less dimorphic voices. However, due to modern birth control methods, these data are rarely described, and mating success is often used as a second-rate proxy. Here, we test whether voice pitch predicts reproductive success, number of children born and child mortality in an evolutionarily relevant population of hunter-gatherers. While we find that voice pitch is not related to reproductive outcomes in women, we find that men with low voice pitch have higher reproductive success and more children born to them. However, voice pitch in men does not predict child mortality. These findings suggest that the association between voice pitch and reproductive success in men is mediated by differential access to fecund women. Furthermore, they show that there is currently selection pressure for low-pitch voices in men.
ISSN:1744-9561
1744-957X
DOI:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0410