Alternative title: wild monkey sex.

I spent the afternoon reading about the presence (or absence) of dominance in various types of primates. I did not realize there were that many different primates, and the dominance thing ranges from highly dominant females to highly dominant males. A lot depends on the type of area they live in. There are female-dominant groups and male dominant groups. And everything in between.

And the less male-dominant the group, the less sexual dimorphism (size difference) there is. Or it might be that the less sexual dimorphism, the less male dominance. The point of this reading? One cannot trace the human tendency toward male dominance back to primate ancestors.

(The book this came from is Sex and Gender Hierarchies, ed. by Barbara Diane Miller.)

Mighty Huntress did not have a trophy for me this morning, unless it was the 2" long little lizard that I thought was a dustball on the carpet.

She has begun acting like the dogs--when I drive into the driveway she is right there to get her petting as I get out of the car. And she's doing this without the incentive of a dog biscuit or other treat! Of course, she's figured out that when I come home in the late afternoon creature-feeding is usually no lower than second on my agenda.

People who got here googling wild monkey sex are going to be REALLY disappointed in this posting.