Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-04T23:04:42.715Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

22 - Evolution of Human Growth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2012

By
Barry Bogin
Edited by
Michael P. Muehlenbein
Michael P. Muehlenbein
Affiliation:
Indiana University, Bloomington
Get access

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Why should a human evolutionary biologist study growth of the human body? The reason is because for multicellular organisms, most major evolutionary change proceeds by alterations in the pattern of growth, development, and maturation. The human species is no exception. In this chapter we review both classic and recent research on the evolution of the human pattern of growth. The major points of this review are:

  1. Humans have four stages of growth and development between birth and adulthood. These are infancy, childhood, juvenile, and adolescent.

  2. The infancy and juvenile stages are shared with most nonhuman primates, social carnivores, elephants, and many cetaceans. The childhood and adolescence stages are human species-specific features.

  3. Human childhood and adolescence evolved because they confer reproductive advantages, increasing the fertility of the parents and reducing the mortality of their offspring. This is classic natural selection.

  4. Adolescence may have evolved by both natural selection and sexual selection. Adolescents may contribute significant amounts of food and labor to their families and this enhances reproduction by the parents and survival of their offspring (natural selection). The sex-specific features of adolescent girls and boys enhances opportunities for an apprenticeship-type of learning and practice of the wide variety of economic, social, political, and sexual skills needed for their own adulthood and successful reproduction (sexual selection).

Type
Chapter
Information
Human Evolutionary Biology , pp. 379 - 395
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altmann, J. (1980). Baboon Mothers and Infants. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Anemone, R. L., Mooney, M. P. and Siegel, M. I. (1996). Longitudinal study of dental development in chimpanzees of known chronological age: implications for understanding the age at death of Plio-Pleistocene hominids. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 99, 119–133.3.0.CO;2-W>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Antón, S. C. (2003). Natural history of Homo erectus. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 37(suppl.), 126–170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ariès, P. (1965). Centuries of Childhood: a Social History of Family Life, transl. Baldich, R.. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Behar, M. (1977). Protein-calorie deficits in developing countries. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 300, 176–187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bergmuller, R., Johnstone, R. A., Russell, A. F. and Bshary, R. (2007). Integrating cooperative breeding into theoretical concepts of cooperation. Behavioural Processes, 76, 61–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bermudez de Castro, J. M., Rosas, A., Carbonell, E., et al. (1999). A modern human pattern of dental development in Lower Pleistocene hominids from Atapuerca-TD6 (Spain). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 96, 4210–4213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blurton Jones, N. G. (2006). Contemporary hunter-gatherers and human life history evolution. In The Evolution of Human Life History, Hawkes, K. and Paine, R. L. (eds). Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press, pp. 231–266.Google Scholar
Blurton Jones, N. G., Smith, L. C., O'Connel, J. F., et al. (1992). Demography of the Hadza, an increasing and high density population of savanna foragers. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 89, 159–181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bock, J. and Sellen, D. W. (2002). Childhood and the evolution of the human life course. Human Nature, B13, 153–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bogin, B. (1993). Why must I be a teenager at all?New Scientist, 137, 34–38.Google Scholar
Bogin, B. (1997). Evolutionary hypotheses for human childhood. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, 40, 63–89.3.0.CO;2-8>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bogin, B. (1999). Patterns of Human Growth, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google ScholarPubMed
Bogin, B. (2001). The Growth of Humanity. New York: Wiley-Liss.Google Scholar
Bogin, B. (2006). Modern human life history: the evolution of human childhood and adult fertility. In The Evolution of Human Life History, Hawkes, K. and Paine, R. R. (eds). Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press, pp. 197–230.Google Scholar
Bogin, B. and Rios, L. (2003). Rapid morphological change in living humans: implications for modern human origins. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A, 136, 71–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bogin, B. and Varela Silva, M. I. (2003). Anthropometric variation and health: a biocultural model of human growth. Journal of Children's Health, 1, 149–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowlby, R. (1969). Attachment and Loss. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Chisholm, J. S. (1999). Sex, Hope, and Death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clutton-Brock, T. (2002). Breeding together: kin selection and mutualism in cooperative vertebrates. Science, 296, 69–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cobourne, M. T. and Sharpe, P. T. (2003). Tooth and jaw: molecular mechanisms of patterning in the first branchial arch. Archives of Oral Biology, 48, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Darwin, C. (1871). The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Davidson, E. (2001). Genomic Regulatory Systems: Development and Evolution. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Waal, F. B. M. (2001). Introduction. In Tree of Origin, Waal, F. B. M. (ed.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 1–9.Google Scholar
Dean, C., Leakey, M. G., Reid, D., et al. (2001). Growth processes in teeth distinguish modern humans from Homo erectus and earlier hominins. Nature, 414, 628–631.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dettwyler, K. A. (1995). A time to wean: the hominid blueprint for the natural age of weaning in modern human populations. In Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives, Stuart-Macadam, P. and Dettwyler, K. A. (eds). New York: Aldine de Gruyter, pp. 39–74.Google Scholar
Dittus, W. P. J. (1977). The social regulation of population density and age-sex distribution in the Toque Monkey. Behaviour, 63, 281–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobson, J. E. (1998). The iodine factor in health and evolution. Geographical Review, 88, 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobzhansky, T. (1973). Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. American Biology Teacher, 35, 125–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellison, P. T. (1982). Skeletal growth, fatness, and menarcheal age: a comparison of two hypotheses. Human Biology, 54, 269–281.Google ScholarPubMed
Ellison, P. T. and O'Rourke, M. T. (2000). Population growth and fertility regulation. In Human Biology: an Evolutionary and Biocultural Perspective, Stinson, S., Bogin, B., Huss-Ashmore, R., et al. (eds). New York: Wiley, pp. 553–586.Google Scholar
Ember, C. R., Ember, M. and Peregrine, P. N. (2002). Anthropology, 10th edn. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Estioko-Griffin, A. (1986). Daughters of the forest. Natural History, 95, 36–43.Google Scholar
Finch, C. E. and Rose, M. R. (1995). Hormones and the physiological architecture of life history evolution. Quarterly Review of Biology, 70, 1–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gage, T. B. (1998). The comparative demography of primates: with some comments on the evolution of life histories. Annual Review of Anthropology, 27, 197–221.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodall, J. (1983). Population dynamics during a 15-year period in one community of free-living chimpanzees in the Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Zietschrift fur Tierpsychologie, 61, 1–60.Google Scholar
Goodall, J. (1986). The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Goodall, J. (2003). Fifi fights back. National Geographic Magazine, 203, 76–89.Google Scholar
Gurven, M. and Walker, R. (2006). Energetic demand of multiple dependents and the evolution of slow human growth. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, 273, 835–841.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamada, Y. and Udono, T. (2002). Longitudinal analysis of length growth in the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 118, 268–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamosh, M. (1995). Lipid metabolism in pediatric nutrition. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 42, 839–859.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawkes, K. and Paine, R. R. (eds) (2006). The Evolution of Human Life History. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press.Google Scholar
Hawkes, K., O'Connell, J. F. and Blurton Jones, N. G. (1997). Hadza women's time allocation, offspring provisioning, and the evolution of post-menopausal lifespans. Current Anthropology, 38, 551–578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawkes, K., O'Connell, J. F., Blurton Jones, N. G., et al. (1998). Grandmothering, menopause, and the evolution of human life histories. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 95, 1336–1339.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Henry, L. (1961). Some data on natural fertility. Eugenics Quarterly, 8, 81–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hewlett, B. (1991). Intimate Fathers: the Nature and Context of Aka Pygmy Paternal Infant Care. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howell, N. (1979). Demography of the Dobe!Kung. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hrdy, S. B. (1999). Mother Nature: a History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection. New York: Pantheon.Google Scholar
Huxley, T. H. (1863). Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature. London: Williams and Norwood.Google Scholar
,Instituto Nacional de Estatística (1999). Resultados definitivos: a natalidade em Portugal, 1998 – Informação à Comunicação Social – Destaque de 16 de Setembro de 1999. Lisboa: Instituto Nacional de Estatística.
,Instituto Nacional de Estatística (2001). Resultados definitivos: a natalidade em Portugal, 2001 – Informação à Comunicação Social – Destaque de 4 de Julho de 2001. Lisboa: Instituto Nacional de Estatística.
Kaplan, H., Hill, K., Lancaster, J., et al. (2000). A theory of human life history evolution: diet, intelligence, and longevity. Evolutionary Anthropology, 9, 156–185.3.0.CO;2-7>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, M. C. and Wilson, A. C. (1975). Evolution at two levels: molecular similarities and differences between humans and chimpanzees. Science, 188, 107–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kramer, K. L. (2002). Variation in juvenile dependence: helping behavior among Maya children. Human Nature, 13, 299–325.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lancaster, J. B. and Lancaster, C. S. (1983). Parental investment: the hominid adaptation. In How Humans Adapt, Ortner, D. J. (ed.), Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 33–65.Google Scholar
Larsen, U., Yan, S. and Yashin, A. (2003). Controlling for postpartum amenorrhea and heterogeneity in the analysis of fecundability using birth interval data: a simulation study with application to Hutterite reproductive histories. Population Review, 42, http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/population_review/v042/42.1larsen.pdf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leigh, S. R. (2001). The evolution of human growth. Evolutionary Anthropology, 10, 223–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leigh, S. R. (2004). Brain growth, life history, and cognition in primate and human evolution. American Journal of Primatology, 62, 139–164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leonard, W. R. and Robertson, M. L. (1994). Evolutionary perspectives on human nutrition: the influence of brain and body size on diet and metabolism. American Journal of Human Biology, 6, 77–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewin, R. (1993). Human Evolution: an Illustrated Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Littleton, J. (2005). Fifty years of chimpanzee demography at Taronga Park Zoo. American Journal of Primatology, 67, 281–298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Locke, J. L. and Bogin, B. (2006). Language and life history: a new perspective on the development and evolution of human language. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 29, 259–325.Google ScholarPubMed
Mattick, J. S. (2004). The hidden genetic program of complex organisms. Scientific American, 291, 60–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moerman, M. L. (1982). Growth of the birth canal in adolescent girls. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 143, 528–532.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muller, J., Nielsen, C. T. and Skakkebaek, N. E. (1989). Testicular maturation and pubertal growth and development in normal boys. In The Physiology of Human Growth, Tanner, J. M. and Preece, M. A. (eds). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 201–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, A. J. and Thompson, J. L. (2002). Adolescent postcranial growth in Homo neanderthalensis. In Human Evolution through Developmental Change, Minugh-Purvis, N. and McNamara, K. J. (eds). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 442–463.Google Scholar
Nishida, T., Takasaki, H. and Takahata, Y. (1990). Demography and reproductive profiles. In The Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains: Sexual and Life History Strategies, Nishida, T. (ed.). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, pp. 63–97.Google Scholar
Nonaka, K., Miura, T. and Peter, K. (1994). Recent fertility decline in Dariusleut Hutterites: an extension of Eaton and Meyer's Hutterite fertility study. Human Biology, 66, 411–420.Google Scholar
Pereira, M. E. and Fairbanks, L. A. (1993). Juvenile Primates: Life History, Development, and Behavior. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1954). The Construction of Reality in the Child. New York: Basic Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pusey, A. (1983). Mother–offspring relationships in chimpanzees after weaning. Animal Behavior, 31, 363–377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pusey, A. (1990). Behavioral changes at adolescence in chimpanzees. Behaviour, 115, 203–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pusey, A. (2001). Of genes and apes: chimpanzee social organization and reproduction. In Tree of Origin, Waal, F. B. M. (ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 10–37.Google Scholar
Pusey, A., Williams, J. and Goodall, J. (1997). The influence of dominance rank on the reproductive success of female chimpanzees. Science, 227, 828–831.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, R. S., Lee, R. D. and Kramer, K. L. (2008). Counting women's labour: a reanalysis of children's net production using Cain's data from a Bangladeshi village. Population Studies (Cambridge), 62, 25–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sato, T., Nonaka, K., Miura, T., et al. (1994). Trends in cohort fertility of the Dariusleut Hutterite population. Human Biology, 66, 421–432.Google ScholarPubMed
Schlegel, A. (ed.) (1995). Special issue on adolescence. Ethos, 23, 3–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlegel, A. and Barry, H. (1991). Adolescence: an Anthropological Inquiry. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Sellen, D. W. (2006). Lactation, complementary feeding and human life history. In The Evolution of Human Life History, Hawkes, K. and Paine, R. R. (eds). Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press, pp. 155–196.Google Scholar
Shankar, R., Chaurasia, A., Ghosh, B., et al. (2007). Non-random genomic divergence in repetitive sequences of human and chimpanzee in genes of different functional categories. Molecular Genetics and Genomics, 277, 441–455.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shibaguchi, T., Kato, J., Abe, M., et al. (2003). Expression and role of Lhx8 in murine tooth development. Archives of Histology and Cytology, 66, 95–108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, B. H. (1991). Age at weaning approximates age of emergence of the first permanent molar in non-human primates [abstract]. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 12(suppl.), 163–164.Google Scholar
Smith, B. H., Crummett, T. L. and Brandt, K. L. (1994). Ages of eruption of primate teeth: a compendium for aging individuals and comparing life histories. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, 37, 177–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stearns, S. C. (1992). The Evolution of Life Histories. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Teleki, G. E., Hunt, E. and Pfifferling, J. H. (1976). Demographic observations (1963–1973) on the chimpanzees of the Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Journal of Human Evolution, 5, 559–598.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, D. W. (1917). On Growth and Form. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, D. W. (1942). On Growth and Form, revised edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. L. and Nelson, A. J. (1997). Relative postcranial development of Neandertals. Journal of Human Evolution, 32, A23–A24.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. L., Krovitz, G. E. and Nelson, A. J. (2003). Patterns of Growth and Development in the Genus Homo. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trevathan, W. R. (1987). Human Birth: an Evolutionary Perspective. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Trevathan, W. R. (1996). The evolution of bipedalism and assisted birth. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 10, 287–298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tutin, C. E. G. (1994). Reproductive success story: variability among chimpanzees and comparisons with gorillas. In Chimpanzee Cultures, Wrangham, R. W., McGrew, W. C., Waal, F. B. M., et al. (eds). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 181–193.Google Scholar
Vavra, H. M. and Querec, L. J. (1973). A Study of Infant Mortality from Linked Records by Age of Mother, Total-birth Order, and other Variables. DHEW Publication No. (HRA). 74–1851. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.Google ScholarPubMed
Wallis, A. (1997). A survey of reproductive parameters in free-ranging chimpanzees of Gombe National Park. Journal of Reproduction, 109, 297–307.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weisner, T. S. (1987). Socialization for parenthood in sibling caretaking societies. In Parenting Across the Life Span: Biosocial Dimensions, Lancaster, J. B., Altmann, J., Rossi, A. S., et al. (eds). New York: Aldine de Gruyter, pp. 237–270.Google Scholar
Weisner, T. S. (1996). The 5–7 transition as an ecocultural project. In Reason and Responsibility: the Passage through Childhood, Samaroff, A. and Haith, M. (eds.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 295–326.Google Scholar
Worthman, C. M. (1993). Biocultural interactions in human development. In Juvenile Primates: Life History, Development, and Behavior, Perieira, M. E. and Fairbanks, L. A. (eds). New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 339–357.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×