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Smith BH. Mammalian Life History: Weaning and Tooth Emergence in a Seasonal World. BIOLOGY 2024; 13:612. [PMID: 39194550 DOI: 10.3390/biology13080612] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2024] [Revised: 08/06/2024] [Accepted: 08/08/2024] [Indexed: 08/29/2024]
Abstract
The young of toothed mammals must have teeth to reach feeding independence. How tooth eruption integrates with gestation, birth and weaning is examined in a life-history perspective for 71 species of placental mammals. Questions developed from high-quality primate data are then addressed in the total sample. Rather than correlation, comparisons focus on equivalence, sequence, the relation to absolutes (six months, one year), the distribution of error and adaptive extremes. These mammals differ widely at birth, from no teeth to all deciduous teeth emerging, but commonalities appear when infants transit to independent feeding. Weaning follows completion of the deciduous dentition, closest in time to emergence of the first permanent molars and well before second molars emerge. Another layer of meaning appears when developmental age is counted from conception because the total time to produce young feeding independently comes up against seasonal boundaries that are costly to cross for reproductive fitness. Mammals of a vast range of sizes and taxa, from squirrel monkey to moose, hold conception-to-first molars in just under one year. Integrating tooth emergence into life history gives insight into living mammals and builds a framework for interpreting the fossil record.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Holly Smith
- Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
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Godfrey LR, Scroxton N, Crowley BE, Burns SJ, Sutherland MR, Pérez VR, Faina P, McGee D, Ranivoharimanana L. A new interpretation of Madagascar's megafaunal decline: The "Subsistence Shift Hypothesis". J Hum Evol 2019; 130:126-140. [PMID: 31010539 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2018] [Revised: 02/27/2019] [Accepted: 03/04/2019] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Fundamental disagreements remain regarding the relative importance of climate change and human activities as triggers for Madagascar's Holocene megafaunal extinction. We use stable isotope data from stalagmites from northwest Madagascar coupled with radiocarbon and butchery records from subfossil bones across the island to investigate relationships between megafaunal decline, climate change, and habitat modification. Archaeological and genetic evidence support human presence by 2000 years Before Common Era (BCE). Megafaunal decline was at first slow; it hastened at ∼700 Common Era (CE) and peaked between 750 and 850 CE, just before a dramatic vegetation transformation in the northwest that resulted in the replacement of C3 woodland habitat with C4 grasslands, during a period of heightened monsoonal activity. Cut and chop marks on subfossil lemur bones reveal a shift in primary hunting targets from larger, now-extinct species prior to ∼900 CE, to smaller, still-extant species afterwards. By 1050 CE, megafaunal populations had essentially collapsed. Neither the rapid megafaunal decline beginning ∼700 CE, nor the dramatic vegetation transformation in the northwest beginning ∼890 CE, was influenced by aridification. However, both roughly coincide with a major transition in human subsistence on the island from hunting/foraging to herding/farming. We offer a new hypothesis, which we call the "Subsistence Shift Hypothesis," to explain megafaunal decline and extinction in Madagascar. This hypothesis acknowledges the importance of wild-animal hunting by early hunter/foragers, but more critically highlights negative impacts of the shift from hunting/foraging to herding/farming, settlement by new immigrant groups, and the concomitant expansion of the island's human population. The interval between 700 and 900 CE, when the pace of megafaunal decline quickened and peaked, coincided with this economic transition. While early megafaunal decline through hunting may have helped to trigger the transition, there is strong evidence that the economic shift itself hastened the crash of megafaunal populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurie R Godfrey
- Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
| | - Nick Scroxton
- Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA; Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Brooke E Crowley
- Departments of Geology and Anthropology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
| | - Stephen J Burns
- Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - Michael R Sutherland
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - Ventura R Pérez
- Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - Peterson Faina
- Département Bassins Sédimentaires Evolution Conservation (BEC), Université D'Antananarivo, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
| | - David McGee
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Lovasoa Ranivoharimanana
- Département Bassins Sédimentaires Evolution Conservation (BEC), Université D'Antananarivo, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
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Young JW, Jankord K, Saunders MM, Smith TD. Getting into Shape: Limb Bone Strength in Perinatal Lemur catta and Propithecus coquereli. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2018; 303:250-264. [PMID: 30548126 DOI: 10.1002/ar.24045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2017] [Revised: 05/03/2018] [Accepted: 05/14/2018] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Functional studies of skeletal anatomy are predicated on the fundamental assumption that form will follow function. For instance, previous studies have shown that the femora of specialized leaping primates are more robust than those of more generalized primate quadrupeds. Are such differences solely a plastic response to differential loading patterns during postnatal life, or might they also reflect more canalized developmental mechanisms present at birth? Here, we show that perinatal Lemur catta, an arboreal/terrestrial quadruped, have less robust femora than perinatal Propithecus coquereli, a closely related species specialized for vertical clinging and leaping (a highly unusual locomotor mode in which the hindlimbs are used to launch the animal between vertical tree trunks). These results suggest that functional differences in long bone cross-sectional dimensions are manifest at birth, belying simple interpretations of adult postcranial form as a direct record of loading patterns during postnatal life. Despite these significant differences in bone robusticity, we find that hindlimb bone mineralization, material properties, and measures of whole-bone strength generally overlap in perinatal L. catta and P. coquereli, indicating little differentiation in postcranial maturity at birth despite known differences in the pace of craniodental development between the species. In a broader perspective, our results likely reflect evolution acting during prenatal ontogeny. Even though primates are notable for relatively prolonged gestation and postnatal parental care, neonates are not buffered from selection, perhaps especially in the unpredictable and volatile environment of Madagascar. Anat Rec, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Anat Rec, 303:250-264, 2020. © 2018 American Association for Anatomy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesse W Young
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), Rootstown, Ohio, 44272
| | - Kathryn Jankord
- School of Physical Therapy, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, 16057
| | - Marnie M Saunders
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, 44325
| | - Timothy D Smith
- School of Physical Therapy, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, 16057.,Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15213
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Le Cabec A, Dean MC, Begun DR. Dental development and age at death of the holotype of Anapithecus hernyaki (RUD 9) using synchrotron virtual histology. J Hum Evol 2017. [PMID: 28622928 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
The chronology of dental development and life history of primitive catarrhines provides a crucial comparative framework for understanding the evolution of hominoids and Old World monkeys. Among the extinct groups of catarrhines are the pliopithecoids, with no known descendants. Anapithecus hernyaki is a medium-size stem catarrhine known from Austria, Hungary and Germany around 10 Ma, and represents a terminal lineage of a clade predating the divergence of hominoids and cercopithecoids, probably more than 30 Ma. In a previous study, Anapithecus was characterized as having fast dental development. Here, we used non-destructive propagation phase contrast synchrotron micro-tomography to image several dental microstructural features in the mixed mandibular dentition of RUD 9, the holotype of A. hernyaki. We estimate its age at death to be 1.9 years and describe the pattern, sequence and timing of tooth mineralization. Our results do not support any simplistic correlation between body mass and striae periodicity, since RUD 9 has a 3-day periodicity, which was previously thought unlikely based on body mass estimates in Anapithecus. We demonstrate that the teeth in RUD 9 grew even faster and initiated even earlier in development than suggested previously. Permanent first molars and the canine initiated 49 and 38 days prenatally, respectively. These results contribute to a better understanding of dental development in Anapithecus and may provide a window into the dental development of the last common ancestor of hominoids and cercopithecoids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adeline Le Cabec
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103, Leipzig, Germany; Beamline ID19, Structure of Materials, ESRF - The European Synchrotron, 71, avenue des Martyrs, CS 40220, F-38043, Grenoble, Cédex 9, France.
| | - M Christopher Dean
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
| | - David R Begun
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ONT M5S 3G3, Canada.
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Hogg RT, Walker RS. Life-History Correlates of Enamel Microstructure in Cebidae (Platyrrhini, Primates). Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2011; 294:2193-206. [DOI: 10.1002/ar.21503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2011] [Accepted: 09/16/2011] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Dumont ER, Ryan TM, Godfrey LR. The Hadropithecus conundrum reconsidered, with implications for interpreting diet in fossil hominins. Proc Biol Sci 2011; 278:3654-61. [PMID: 21525060 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2011.0528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The fossil 'monkey lemur' Hadropithecus stenognathus has long excited palaeontologists because its skull bears an astonishing resemblance to those of robust australopiths, an enigmatic side branch of the human family tree. Multiple lines of evidence point to the likelihood that these australopiths ate at least some 'hard', stress-limited food items, but conflicting data from H. stenognathus pose a conundrum. While its hominin-like craniofacial architecture is suggestive of an ability to generate high bite forces, details of its tooth structure suggest that it was not well equipped to withstand the forces imposed by cracking hard objects. Here, we use three-dimensional digital reconstructions and finite-element analysis to test the hard-object processing hypothesis. We show that Archaeolemur sp. cf. A. edwardsi, a longer-faced close relative of H. stenognathus that lacked hominin convergences, was probably capable of breaking apart large, stress-limited food items, while Hadropithecus was better suited to processing small, displacement-limited (tougher but more compliant) foods. Our suggestion that H. stenognathus was not a hard-object feeder has bearing on the interpretation of hominin cranial architecture; the features shared by H. stenognathus and robust australopiths do not necessarily reflect adaptations for hard-object processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth R Dumont
- 221 Morrill Science Center, Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
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Catlett KK, Schwartz GT, Godfrey LR, Jungers WL. "Life history space": a multivariate analysis of life history variation in extant and extinct Malagasy lemurs. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2010; 142:391-404. [PMID: 20091842 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Studies of primate life history variation are constrained by the fact that all large-bodied extant primates are haplorhines. However, large-bodied strepsirrhines recently existed. If we can extract life history information from their skeletons, these species can contribute to our understanding of primate life history variation. This is particularly important in light of new critiques of the classic "fast-slow continuum" as a descriptor of variation in life history profiles across mammals in general. We use established dental histological methods to estimate gestation length and age at weaning for five extinct lemur species. On the basis of these estimates, we reconstruct minimum interbirth intervals and maximum reproductive rates. We utilize principal components analysis to create a multivariate "life history space" that captures the relationships among reproductive parameters and brain and body size in extinct and extant lemurs. Our data show that, whereas large-bodied extinct lemurs can be described as "slow" in some fashion, they also varied greatly in their life history profiles. Those with relatively large brains also weaned their offspring late and had long interbirth intervals. These were not the largest of extinct lemurs. Thus, we distinguish size-related life history variation from variation that linked more strongly to ecological factors. Because all lemur species larger than 10 kg, regardless of life history profile, succumbed to extinction after humans arrived in Madagascar, we argue that large body size increased the probability of extinction independently of reproductive rate. We also provide some evidence that, among lemurs, brain size predicts reproductive rate better than body size.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kierstin K Catlett
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
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Smith TM, Tafforeau P. New visions of dental tissue research: Tooth development, chemistry, and structure. Evol Anthropol 2008. [DOI: 10.1002/evan.20176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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The evolution of extinction risk: past and present anthropogenic impacts on the primate communities of Madagascar. Folia Primatol (Basel) 2007; 78:405-19. [PMID: 17855790 DOI: 10.1159/000105152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
There are two possible approaches to understanding natural and human-induced changes in the primate communities of Madagascar. One is to begin with present-day and recent historic interactions and work backwards. A second is to begin with paleoecological records of Malagasy primate communities before and immediately following human arrival, and the associated evidence of human and nonhuman primate interactions, and work forwards. On the basis of biological and climatic studies, as well as historic and ethnohistoric records, we are beginning to understand the abiotic and biotic characteristics of Madagascar's habitats, the lemurs' ecological adaptations to these unique habitats, the extent of forest loss, fragmentation and hunting, and the differential vulnerability of extant lemur species to these pressures. On the basis of integrated paleoecological, archaeological and paleontological research, we have begun to construct a detailed chronology for late prehistoric Madagascar. We are beginning to understand the complex sequence of events that led to one of the most dramatic recent megafaunal extinction/extirpation events. Combining the perspectives of the past and the present, we see a complex set of interactions affecting an initially rich but vulnerable fauna. The total evidence refutes any simple, unicausal (e.g. hunting/habitat destruction/climate change) explanation of megafaunal extinctions, yet unequivocally supports a major role--both direct and indirect--for humans as the trigger of the extinction process. It also supports a change over time in the relative importance of hunting versus habitat loss, and in the trophic characteristics of the primate communities in Madagascar.
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NAKATSUKASA MASATO, KUNIMATSU YUTAKA, NAKANO YOSHIHIKO, EGI NAOKO, ISHIDA HIDEMI. Postcranial bones of infant Nacholapithecus: ontogeny and positional behavioral adaptation. ANTHROPOL SCI 2007. [DOI: 10.1537/ase.070409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- MASATO NAKATSUKASA
- Laboratory of Physical Anthropology, Department of Zoology, Kyoto University
| | | | | | | | - HIDEMI ISHIDA
- Department of Human Nursing, University of Shiga Prefecture
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