ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the constraints on paternal and patrilineal kin recognition in nonhuman primates. It considers the implications of distinguishing between kin groups and descent groups. The primary distinction between nonhumans and humans may not be so much the greater number of different relationships that humans can track without proximity, but rather, the types of relationships that humans recognize. Despite compelling evidence of limits on the abilities of primates to recognize distantly related kin or discriminate unfamiliar kin from nonkin, genetic relatedness has become one of the foundations for interpreting patterns of primate social interactions. In nonhuman primates, by contrast, long-term mate bonds appear to compensate for the absence of extended kin in species in which both females and males disperse. The chapter also considers the conditions under which social groups composed of nonkin arise. It examines how demographic constraints on dispersal can affect the composition of kin within groups and the exchange of mates between groups.
