The adaptive significance of polyandry is an intensely debated subject in sexual selection. For species with male infanticidal behaviour, it has been hypothesized that polyandry evolved as female counterstrategy to offspring loss: by mating with multiple males, females may conceal paternity and so prevent males from killing putative offspring. Here we present, to our knowledge, the first empiri...

This essay deals with the question of the morality of abortion and infanticide. The fundamental ethical objection traditionally advanced against these practices rests on the contention that human fetuses and infants have a right to life. It is this claim which will be the focus of attention here. The basic issue to be discussed, then, is what properties a thing must possess in order to have a s...

The 'suppression' of unwanted babies seems to have been commonplace in antiquity. Early travellers to New Zealand, while remarking on how fond the Maoris were of their children and how well they looked after them, noted that infanticide was openly practised. The most favoured methods were squeezing the nose between the fingers, pressing the fontanel, or putting a wet cloth over the baby's head-...