• Hyperreality@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          10 months ago

          Meh. True monogamy is quite rare in mammals.

          Used to think monogamy was very common in birds, but IRC thanks to DNA testing, we now know plenty of baby birds have a different daddy. Ie. they raise the baby together, but they have an open relationship and impregnate/get impregnated by other birds.

          Apparently that’s surprisingly rare in humans.

          • merc@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            10 months ago

            Less that they “have an open relationship” and more that the birds sneak around behind each-other’s backs. Males go off and try to sneakily impregnate other females, females sneak around and try to get impregnated by other males. You find it in apes too.

    • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      10 months ago

      No it isn’t. Religion usurped it and claim they invented it but it’s older than that

      • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        10 months ago

        I’d be curious about this claim. There’s pair bonding in other species, and other species that are (mostly) monogamous, but an explicit formal declaration of a monogamous pairing is something that doesn’t happen until you have some kind of culture and by the time we have any kinds of surviving records (even mostly coherent oral traditions) of anything religion already has it claws in a lot of things.