Male and female travel reflect reproductive interests

What is it about?

Paying attention to reproductive opportunities, we studied the balance between home-attracting and travel-motivating factors among male and female Tsimane, a tribal people living in the Bolivian Amazon. For men the biggest effect was an increase in travel during the mate-seeking adolescent years. For women the biggest effect was a decrease in travel that was proportionate to their number of dependent children. Adolescent women did not increase their travel and fathers did not decrease theirs.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Across many taxa sex-specific ranging patterns reflect the prevailing mating system. Unfortunately, human ranging behavior is poorly described. We studied male and female ranging behavior across the lifespan in a tribal Amazonian population. Men, but not women, increased their travel during adolescence, the peak period of mate search. Women, but not men, decreased their travel proportionate to their number of dependent offspring. Such patterns are typical for polygynously mating species.