Editing Paranthropus (section)

===Social structure===
[[File:Paranthropus aethiopicus face (University of Zurich) blackbckgr.JPG|thumb|upright|''P. aethiopicus'' [[KNM WT 17000]]]]
Given the marked anatomical and physical differences with modern great apes, there may be no modern analogue for australopithecine societies, so comparisons drawn with modern primates will not be entirely accurate.<ref name=Copeland2011/><ref name=Kaszycka2016/>

''Paranthropus'' had pronounced [[sexual dimorphism]], with males notably larger than females, which is commonly correlated with a male-dominated [[polygamous]] society. ''P. robustus'' may have had a harem society similar to modern forest-dwelling [[silverback gorilla]]s, where one male has exclusive breeding rights to a group of females, as male-female size disparity is comparable to gorillas (based on facial dimensions), and younger males were less robust than older males (delayed maturity is also exhibited in gorillas).<ref>{{cite journal|first1=C. A.|last1=Lockwood|first2=C. G.|last2=Menter|first3=J.|last3=Moggi-Cecchi|first4=A. W.|last4=Keyser|year=2007|title=Extended male growth in a fossil hominin species|journal=Science|volume=318|issue=5855|pages=1443–1446|doi=10.1126/science.1149211|pmid=18048687|bibcode=2007Sci...318.1443L|s2cid=32900905|url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/15464/files/PAL_E2851.pdf }}</ref>

However, if ''P. robustus'' preferred a savanna habitat, a multi-male society would have been more productive to better defend the troop from predators in the more exposed environment, much like savanna [[baboon]]s. Further, among primates, delayed maturity is also exhibited in the [[rhesus monkey]] which has a multi-male society, and may not be an accurate indicator of social structure.<ref name=Kaszycka2016>{{cite journal|first=K. A.|last=Kaszycka|year=2016|title=''Australopithecus robustus'' societies - one-male or multimale?|journal=South African Journal of Science|volume=112|issue=1–2|pages=124–131|doi=10.17159/sajs.2016/20150165|doi-access=free}}</ref>

A 2011 [[strontium isotope]] study of ''P. robustus'' teeth from the [[dolomite (rock)|dolomite]] [[Sterkfontein]] Valley found that, like other [[hominin]]s, but unlike other great apes, ''P. robustus'' females were more likely to leave their place of birth ([[patrilocal]]). This also discounts the plausibility of a harem society, which would have resulted in a [[matrilocal]] society due to heightened male–male competition. Males did not seem to have ventured very far from the valley, which could either indicate small home ranges, or that they preferred dolomitic landscapes due to perhaps cave abundance or factors related to vegetation growth.<ref name=Copeland2011>{{cite journal|first1=S. R.|last1=Copeland|first2=M.|last2=Sponheimmer|first3=D. J.|last3=de Ruiter|first4=J.|last4=Lee-Thorp|year=2011|title=Strontium isotope evidence for landscape use by early hominins|journal=Nature|volume=474|issue=7349|pages=76–78|doi=10.1038/nature10149|pmid=21637256|s2cid=205225222}}</ref>