The Differences between the Sexes

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

R. V. Short (Edited by), E. Balaban (Edited by)

9780521448789, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 4 August 1994

496 pages, 175 b/w illus. 11 tables
22.9 x 15.3 x 2.5 cm, 0.795 kg

'This book will be read with pleasure by anyone who is a biology graduate and who has a deep curiosity about animals. Its outstanding strengths are the panoramic breadth of its subject matter, the authority of its authors and (with a few exceptions) the accessibility of its language. I would not hesitate to recommend it as an undergraduate text.' Trends in Genetics

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.

Subject Areas: Animal behaviour [PSVP], Animal physiology [PSVD], Sexual behaviour [JMU]