The Differences between the Sexes

Leading authorities discuss a dazzling array of differences between the sexes.

In most animals, from bees to bison, house flies to humans, it is possible to see at a glance whether an individual is male or female. How and why have these differences in appearance and behaviour developed and what are the nature and extent of the differences between men and women? This book reviews the latest molecular, genetic, hormonal, anatomical and behavioural data in a wide range of species in a series of lively and highly readable articles from the world's leading experts in this field. Such an overview has never before been attempted. It will have a wide appeal, especially to undergraduates and graduates in the biological and medical sciences, and will help to bridge the gap between those who study genes and molecules in the laboratory and those who study the behaviour of animals in the wild.

Foreword; Preface; Part I. Overview: 1. Why sex? R. V. Short; 2. Constraints to parthenogenesis D. Crews; Part II. Somatic Dimorphisms Across the Species: 3. Explaining the evolution of unexpected sex differences J. D. Reynolds and P. H. Harvey; 4. Sexual dimorphism in the Hymenoptera J. W. Stubblefield and J. Seger; 5. Sex change in fishes - how and why D. Y. Shapiro; 6. Teeth, horn and antlers: weapons of sex G. A. Lincoln; 7. The evolution of sexual size dimorphism in primates R. D. Martin, L. A. Willner and A. Dettling; Part III. Sexual Dimorphisms in Organ Systems: 8. Translating gonadal sex into phenotypic sex J. D. Wilson; 9. Sexual dimorphisms in the gonads of marsupial mammals M. B. Renfree; 10. Regulation of sexual dimorphism in rat liver J.-A. Gustafsson; 11. Sex differences in sounds and their causes E. Balaban; 12. Brain structure: causes and consequences of brain sex M. Gahr; Part III. Sexual Dimorphisms in Behaviour: 13. Hormone-behaviour interactions and mating systems in male and female birds J. C. Wingfield; 14. Behavioural dimorphisms in African elephants J. H. Poole; 15. The costs of sex differences T. H. Clutton-Brock; 16. Pheromones: the fruit fly's perfumed garden J.-F. Ferveur, M. Cobb, Y. Oguma and J.-M. Jallon; Part IV. Genetic and Environmental Control of Gonadal Sex: 17. Evolution of mammalian sex chromosomes M. F. Lyon; 18. Mammalian sex-determining genes J. A. Marshall Graves; 19. Bizarre mammalian sex-determining mechanisms K. Fredga; 20. Environmental control of gonadal differentiation C. Pieau, M. Girondat, G. Desrages, M. Dorizzi, N. Richard-Mercier, P. Zaborski; Afterword; A man's a man for a' that R. V. Short; A few chromosomal differences among friends E. Balaban; Index.

Leading authorities discuss a dazzling array of differences between the sexes. This book brings sexual selection up to date, probes the mechanisms by which they are produced and shows the adaptive significance of the differences themselves.