Includes bibliographical references (p. [277]-325) and index.

What Is Life History? -- 1. Life History, the Individual, and Evolution / Mary Ellen Morbeck -- 2. Changing Views of Female Life Histories / Linda Marie Fedigan -- What It Means to Be a Mammal -- 3. Sea Lions, Life History, and Reproduction / Kathryn Ono -- 4. Life History and Reproductive Success of Female Northern Elephant Seals / Joanne Reiter -- What It Means to Be a Primate -- 5. Social Relationships and Life Histories of Primates / Barbara B. Smuts -- 6. Development of Sex Differences in Nonhuman Primates / Mariko Hiraiwa-Hasegawa -- 7. The Social Life of Female Japanese Monkeys / Mary S. McDonald Pavelka -- 8. Natural History of Apes: Life-History Features in Females and Males / Adrienne L. Zihlman -- What It Means to Be a Catarrhine -- 9. Reading Life History in Teeth, Bones, and Fossils / Mary Ellen Morbeck -- 10. The Cost of Reproduction and the Evolution of Postmenopausal Osteoporosis / Alison Galloway -- 11. The Biological Origins of Adipose Tissue in Humans / Caroline M. Pond -- 12. Female Primates: Fat or Fit? / Robin McFarland -- What It Means to Be a Human -- 13. Women's Bodies, Women's Lives: An Evolutionary Perspective / Adrienne L. Zihlman -- 14. Sex Differences in Human Populations: Change through Time / Silvana M. Borgognini Tarli and Elena Repetto -- 15. Growing Up Female in a Farmer Community and a Forager Community / Gilda A. Morelli -- 16. Institutional, Evolutionary, and Demographic Contexts of Gender Roles: A Case Study of !Kung Bushmen / Patricia Draper -- 17. Women's Work and Energetics: A Case Study from Nepal / Catherine Panter-Brick -- 18. Flexibility and Paradox: The Nature of Adaptation in Human Reproduction / Virginia J. Vitzthum -- Life History, Females, and Evolution -- 19. Social Intelligence and Sexual Reproduction: Evolutionary Strategies / Alison Jolly -- 20. Life History, Females, and Evolution: A Commentary / Beverly McLeod.