A Role for Children in Hominid Evolution

Zeller, Anne

doi:10.2307/2802504

Cited by 51 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(1 reference statement)

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“…Prolactin is secreted within minutes of nipple mechanical stimulation; this hormone in turn inhibits gonadal hormones which control ovulation (Konner & Worthman, 1980;Wood, 1994). Use of a pacifier or the introduction of water or solid foods can diminish prolactin levels (Jeliffe & Jeliffe, 1979;Zeller, 1987). In other words, while supplementation need not herald weaning, it will probably hasten the process.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dental Wear in Immature Late Pleistocene European Hominines

Skinner

1997

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dental Wear in Immature Late Pleistocene European Hominines

Skinner

1997

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…Researchers in fields as diverse as economics (Butcher and Case 1994;Steelman et al 2002;Dayioglu et al 2009), anthropology (Hrdy 1992;Borgerhoff-Mulder 1998;Hagen and Barrett 2009;Kramer 2010) and evolutionary biology (Trivers 1972(Trivers , 1974Wilson 1984, 1988;Zeller 1987;Clutton-Brock 1991) have posed questions about how major life events such as the number of children in a household, age of first reproduction or level of parental investment (PI) shape the evolution of human families. Together, these studies constitute life-history research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sibling composition and children's anthropometric indicators of nutritional status: Evidence from native Amazonians in Bolivia

Magvanjav¹,

Undurraga²,

Eisenberg³

et al. 2012

Annals of Human Biology

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“…53 The contributions others make either directly to mothers or to offspring are associated with higher maternal fertility. 18,28,45,49,50,55,94,[121][122][123][124][125][126] For most mammals, energy for reproduction is limited by a mother's ability to increase her foraging effort to fund the metabolic cost of pregnancy, lactation, or supporting multiple dependents. For cooperative breeders, these costs may be mitigated by helpers to some extent through a reduction in parental investment or foraging effort.…”

Section: -112 Shortermentioning

confidence: 99%

Pooled energy budgets: Resituating human energy ‐allocation trade‐offs

Kramer

Ellison

2010

Evolutionary Anthropology

135

120

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Across taxa, many life-history traits vary as a function of differences in body size.1-5 Among primates, including humans, allometric relationships explain many trends in metabolic, growth, reproductive, and mortality rates.6-8 But humans also deviate from nonhuman primates with respect to other developmental, reproductive, and parenting characteristics. [9][10][11][12][13] Broad relationships between life-history traits and body size assume that energy expended in activity (foraging effort) is proportional to body size, and that energy available for growth and reproduction are equivalent. Because human subsistence and parenting are based on food sharing, and cooperation in labor and childrearing, the ways by which energy is acquired and allocated to alternate expenditures are expanded. We present a modification of the general allocation model to include a mechanism for these energy transfers. Our goal is to develop a framework that incorporates this mechanism and can explain the human life-history paradox; that is, slow juvenile growth and rapid reproduction. We suggest that the central characteristics of human subsistence and energy transfer need to be accounted for in order to more fully appreciate human life-history variability. LIFE-HISTORY APPROACHES TO THE PARADOX OF SLOW GROWTH AND RAPID REPRODUCTIONThe scaling of life-history traits with body size is generally explained by the link between body size and metabolic energy production. However, human life histories also present a paradox. Juvenile growth rates (from weaning to adolescence) are slower than expected for an ape of our size, 11,13,19 but reproductive rates are faster. 20,21 This discordance in the directionality of life-history expectations can be framed in terms of an energetic puzzle. Given the basic life-history assumption that the energy available for growth and reproduction (production function) is equivalent, 16 we need to explain either where the extra energy to fuel faster reproduction comes from or where the missing energy that could fuel faster growth goes, or both. In other words, why don't children grow faster or mothers reproduce more slowly?Charnov and Berrigan's life-history model is both elegant and far-reaching in predicting how and why primate life-history traits vary from those of other mammals. One of its important contributions to hominin evolution is its illumination of the human life-history paradox. Various robust models have proposed explanations for the evolution of life-history traits in relation to mortality schedules and the human life course. 17,18,22,23 Other human life-history models have focused on explaining slow growth, delayed maturity, or fast reproduction.24-29 The pooled energy model presented here is not contrary to these perspectives, but focuses on a unifying mechanism, energy transfers, to account for both slow juvenile growth and fast reproduction within one framework. ARTICLESKaren Kramer is an Associate Professor in the department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. Her research with...

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A Role for Children in Hominid Evolution

Cited by 51 publications

References 43 publications

Dental Wear in Immature Late Pleistocene European Hominines

Dental Wear in Immature Late Pleistocene European Hominines

Sibling composition and children's anthropometric indicators of nutritional status: Evidence from native Amazonians in Bolivia

Pooled energy budgets: Resituating human energy ‐allocation trade‐offs

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