Talk:Varieties of monogamy

The quote provided to describe social monogamy suggests that it does not imply that the people involved have sex, but the rest of the article suggests that they must. I want to change this; any objections? Am I reading it wrong? LogicalDash 03:49, 21 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

My understanding of the quote is that social monogamy does not imply any particular patterns of sexual behavior (e.g., does not imply sexual monogamy). Biologists were confronted with situations where two animals form essentially monogamous relationships, which includes having sex and raising offspring, but the partners in these pairs may or may not slip away for some extra-couple sexual encounters, which may or may not lead to extra-couple offspring. The terms social monogamy, sexual monogamy, and genetic monogamy were created to allow more precise descriptions of what exactly was happening. Some species are socially monogamous, sexually monogamous, and genetically monogamous. But a lot more species are socially monogamous, sexually non-monogamous and genetically non-monogamous. However, go ahead and make the changes you think would improve the article. If someone objects to the changes, we can work towards a compromise that is satisfactory to all. Collaboration is the name of the game here. Kelly 04:46, 21 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This article is mostly about exceptions to monogamy in the non-human world. It needs a new title, or a spin-off. --Uncle Ed 18:21, 22 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]