Evolution of human growth spurts

Leigh, Steven R.

doi:10.1002/(sici)1096-8644(199612)101:4<455::aid-ajpa2>3.0.co;2-v

Cited by 147 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…These species are also characterized by a lack of sex differences in physical size and in the pattern of physical development (Leigh, 1996). The cross-species pattern suggests that intense male-male competition over access to mates and paternal investment are inversely related, although, in many species, some males use alternative, noncombative, reproductive strategies (e.g., courting females; Smuts, 1985).…”

Section: Male-male Competition Female Choice and Paternal Investmentmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…The sexual dimorphisms found in our ancestors and in all extant great apes are, of course, the same sexual dimorphisms found in modem humans, that is, men are physically larger and stronger than women and have a longer maturational period (Leigh, 1996;Tanner, 1990). At the same time, there appears to have been a substantive reduction in the male advantage in physical size from A. afarensis to modern humans.…”

Section: Male-male Competition Female Choice and Paternal Investmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Evolution and proximate expression of human paternal investment.

Geary¹

2000

Psychological Bulletin

681

486

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In more than 95% of mammalian species, males provide little direct investment in the well-being of their offspring. Humans are one notable exception to this pattern and, to date, the factors that contributed to the evolution and the proximate expression of human paternal care are unexplained (T. H. Chitton-Brock, 1989). The nature, extent, and influence of human paternal investment on the physical and social well-being of children are reviewed in light of the social and ecological factors that are associated with paternal investment in other species. On the basis of this review, discussion of the evolution and proximate expression of human paternal investment is provided.

show abstract

Section: Male-male Competition Female Choice and Paternal Investmentmentioning

confidence: 61%

Section: Male-male Competition Female Choice and Paternal Investmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution and proximate expression of human paternal investment.

Geary¹

2000

Psychological Bulletin

681

486

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Brain energetics are thus not likely to impose a strong constraint on later juvenile body growth in macaques, whereas in chimpanzees growth is predicted to be slowed in the juvenile period, but to a lesser degree than in humans because of their smaller brains and corresponding lower brain metabolic needs (22). Comparative growth data support this prediction (41), showing that, unlike humans, chimpanzees and other great apes do not display marked declines in weight velocities after infancy. Additionally, humans are not distinct in having a "growth spurt" but in delaying it until after a long period of slow childhood growth (41).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Comparative growth data support this prediction (41), showing that, unlike humans, chimpanzees and other great apes do not display marked declines in weight velocities after infancy. Additionally, humans are not distinct in having a "growth spurt" but in delaying it until after a long period of slow childhood growth (41).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development

Kuzawa

Chugani

Grossman

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

454

393

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The high energetic costs of human brain development have been hypothesized to explain distinctive human traits, including exceptionally slow and protracted preadult growth. Although widely assumed to constrain life-history evolution, the metabolic requirements of the growing human brain are unknown. We combined previously collected PET and MRI data to calculate the human brain's glucose use from birth to adulthood, which we compare with body growth rate. We evaluate the strength of brain-body metabolic trade-offs using the ratios of brain glucose uptake to the body's resting metabolic rate (RMR) and daily energy requirements (DER) expressed in glucose-gram equivalents (glucose rmr% and glucose der% ). We find that glucose rmr% and glucose der% do not peak at birth (52.5% and 59.8% of RMR, or 35.4% and 38.7% of DER, for males and females, respectively), when relative brain size is largest, but rather in childhood (66.3% and 65.0% of RMR and 43.3% and 43.8% of DER). Body-weight growth (dw/dt) and both glucose rmr% and glucose der% are strongly, inversely related: soon after birth, increases in brain glucose demand are accompanied by proportionate decreases in dw/dt. Ages of peak brain glucose demand and lowest dw/dt co-occur and subsequent developmental declines in brain metabolism are matched by proportionate increases in dw/dt until puberty. The finding that human brain glucose demands peak during childhood, and evidence that brain metabolism and body growth rate covary inversely across development, support the hypothesis that the high costs of human brain development require compensatory slowing of body growth rate.neuroimaging | diabetes | human evolution | neuronal plasticity | anthropology A prolonged period of childhood and juvenile growth is a defining feature of human life history (1-3). Compared with other great apes, human offspring are weaned early, leading to an extended period of dependence on procured resources rather than breast milk (1, 4). Although this unique human reproductive pattern is viewed as shortening the interbirth interval and thus increasing fertility (5, 6), what is less clear is why humans also grow so slowly during childhood. Although most primates grow slower than other mammals (7), human childhood and juvenile growth stand out as unusually slow even by primate and great ape standards, during which it proceeds at a pace more typical of reptiles than of mammals (8, 9). In humans, a sizeable percentage of preadult growth is deferred until the pubertal growth spurt, when growth rate markedly increases and adult size is achieved (1).Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain this slow and prolonged preadult life-stage, with most pointing to the extra time and energy required for human learning and brain development (5, 10-12). It has long been assumed that human cultural practices are sufficiently complex that they take many years to learn, which could have selected for a slowing down and extension of preadult development (13). A recent variant of this idea notes the importance of ...

show abstract

“…The origin of this life stage could have important implications for hominin evolution, relating either to cultural complexity, since adolescence is a time when human individuals learn critical adult roles (Bogin, 1994), or to solutions for dealing with the increased metabolic demands of large body size (Leigh, 1996). Bogin (1994Bogin ( , 1999 argued that the human adolescent skeletal growth spurt reflects a uniquely "inserted" period of ontogeny that is entirely absent in early hominins, including H. erectus.…”

Section: The Origin Of Adolescence?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural history ofHomo erectus

Antón

2003

Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

416

154

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Our view of H. erectus is vastly different today than when Pithecanthropus erectus was described in 1894. Since its synonimization into Homo, views of the species and its distribution have varied from a single, widely dispersed, polytypic species ultimately ancestral to all later Homo, to a derived, regional isolate ultimately marginal to later hominin evolution. A revised chronostratigraphic framework and recent work bearing either directly or indirectly on reconstructions of life-history patterns are reviewed here and, together with a review of the cranial and postcranial anatomy of H. erectus, are used to generate a natural history of the species. Here I argue that H. erectus is a hominin, notable for its increased body size, that originates in the latest Pliocene/earliest Pleistocene of Africa and quickly disperses into Western and Eastern Asia. It is also an increasingly derived hominin with several regional morphs sustained by intermittent isolation, particularly in Southeast Asia. This view differs from several current views, most especially that which recognizes only a single hominin species in the Pleistocene, H. sapiens, and those which would atomize H. erectus into a multiplicity of taxa. Following Jolly ([2001] Yrbk Phys Anthropol 44:177-204), the regional morphs of H. erectus may be productively viewed as geographically replacing allotaxa, rather than as the focus of unresolvable species debates. Such a view allows us to focus on the adaptations and biology of local groups, including questions of biogeographic isolation and local adaptation. A number of issues remain unresolved, including the significance of diversity in size and shape in the early African and Georgian records.

show abstract

Evolution of human growth spurts

Cited by 147 publications

References 25 publications

Evolution and proximate expression of human paternal investment.

Evolution and proximate expression of human paternal investment.

Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development

Natural history ofHomo erectus

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About