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The Evolution of Human Growth

B. Bogin

Published 2020 in Patterns of Human Growth

ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the evolution of the process of human growth and development. It highlights that much of what is known about human growth is derived from research on nonhuman animals. The two reasons for this are ethical limits on the kind of experimental research that may be performed on human beings and the evolutionary history that connects all living organisms. Some events in the human life-cycle may be unique, such as the adolescent growth spurt in height and menopause, and they attest to the ongoing evolution of human species. The unique stages and events of human growth and development evolved because they conferred reproductive advantages to humans. The human life-cycle stands in sharp contrast to other species of social mammals, even other primates. Anthropological theory needs to explain how humans successfully combined a vastly extended period of offspring dependency and delayed reproduction, with helpless newborns, a short duration of breastfeeding, an adolescent growth spurt, and menopause. A central question arises whether these characteristics evolve as a package or a mosaic. The chapter presents evidence that suggests that human life history evolved as a mosaic and may have taken form over more than a million years.

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