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Sandel AA, Negrey JD, Arponen M, Clark IR, Clift JB, Reddy RB, Ivaska KK. The evolution of the adolescent growth spurt: Urinary biomarkers of bone turnover in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). J Hum Evol 2023; 177:103341. [PMID: 36905703 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Revised: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/01/2023] [Indexed: 03/11/2023]
Abstract
Life history theory addresses how organisms balance development and reproduction. Mammals usually invest considerable energy into growth in infancy, and they do so incrementally less until reaching adult body size, when they shift energy to reproduction. Humans are unusual in having a long adolescence when energy is invested in both reproduction and growth, including rapid skeletal growth around puberty. Although many primates, especially in captivity, experience accelerated growth in mass around puberty, it remains unclear whether this represents skeletal growth. Without data on skeletal growth in nonhuman primates, anthropologists have often assumed the adolescent growth spurt is uniquely human, and hypotheses for its evolution have focused on other uniquely human traits. The lack of data is largely due to methodological difficulties of assessing skeletal growth in wild primates. Here, we use two urinary markers of bone turnover-osteocalcin and collagen-to study skeletal growth in a large, cross-sectional sample of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda. For both bone turnover markers, we found a nonlinear effect of age, which was largely driven by males. For male chimpanzees, values for osteocalcin and collagen peaked at age 9.4 years and 10.8 years, respectively, which corresponds to early and middle adolescence. Notably, collagen values increased from 4.5 to 9 years, suggesting faster growth during early adolescence compared to late infancy. Biomarker levels plateaued at 20 years in both sexes, suggesting skeletal growth continues until then. Additional data, notably on females and infants of both sexes, are needed, as are longitudinal samples. However, our cross-sectional analysis suggests an adolescent growth spurt in the skeleton of chimpanzees, especially for males. Biologists should avoid claiming that the adolescent growth spurt is uniquely human, and hypotheses for the patterns of human growth should consider variation in our primate relatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aaron A Sandel
- Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, WCP 4.102, 2201 Speedway Stop C3200, Austin, TX 78712, USA; Primate Ethology and Endocrinology Lab, University of Texas at Austin, 2201 Speedway Stop C3200, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
| | - Jacob D Negrey
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, 900 S. Cady Mall, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA; Department of Pathology/Section on Comparative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27101, USA
| | - Milja Arponen
- Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Kiinamyllynkatu 10, 20520 Turku, Finland
| | - Isabelle R Clark
- Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, WCP 4.102, 2201 Speedway Stop C3200, Austin, TX 78712, USA; Primate Ethology and Endocrinology Lab, University of Texas at Austin, 2201 Speedway Stop C3200, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Jeremy B Clift
- Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, 216 Memorial Hall, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
| | - Rachna B Reddy
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, 104 Biological Sciences, Durham, NC 27708, USA
| | - Kaisa K Ivaska
- Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Kiinamyllynkatu 10, 20520 Turku, Finland
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Rodríguez J, Willmes C, Mateos A. Shivering in the Pleistocene. Human adaptations to cold exposure in Western Europe from MIS 14 to MIS 11. J Hum Evol 2021; 153:102966. [PMID: 33711721 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2020] [Revised: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 02/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
During the mid-Middle Pleistocene MIS 14 to MIS 11, humans spread through Western Europe from the Mediterranean peninsulas to the sub-Arctic region, and they did so not only during the warm periods but also during the glacial stages. In doing so, they were exposed to harsh environmental conditions, including low or extremely low temperatures. Here we review the distribution of archeological assemblages in Western Europe from MIS 14 to MIS 11 and obtain estimates of the climatic conditions at those localities. Estimates of the mean annual temperature, mean winter and summer temperatures, and the lowest temperature of the coldest month for each locality were obtained from the Oscillayers database. Our results show that hominins endured cold exposure not only during the glacial stages but also during the interglacials, with winter temperatures below 0 °C at many localities. The efficacy of the main physiological and behavioral adaptations that might have been used by the Middle Pleistocene hominins to cope with low temperatures is evaluated using a simple heat-loss model. Our results suggest that physiological and anatomical adaptations alone, such as increasing basal metabolic rate and subcutaneous adipose tissue, were not enough to tolerate the low winter temperatures of Western Europe, even during the MIS 13 and MIS 11 interglacials. In contrast, the use of a simple fur bed cover appears to have been an extremely effective response to low temperatures. We suggest that advanced fire production and control technology were not necessary for the colonization of northern Europe during MIS 14 and MIS 12. We propose that Middle Pleistocene European populations were able to endure the low temperatures of those glacial stages combining anatomical and physiological adaptations with behavioral responses, such as the use of shelter and simple fur clothes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesús Rodríguez
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain
| | - Christian Willmes
- Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, 50923, Cologne, Germany
| | - Ana Mateos
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002, Burgos, Spain.
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Charlier P, Coppens Y, Héry-Arnaud G, Hassin J. [A biological anthropology of the disappearance of the Neandertal Man: recent data]. Med Sci (Paris) 2018; 34:745-748. [PMID: 30230470 DOI: 10.1051/medsci/20183408024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
What could have been the causes of the disappearance of Neanderthals? We will try here to make a synthesis between one of the fundamental questions of biological anthropology relating to human evolution (hypotheses on the causes of the extinction of Neanderthals) and evolutionary bio-medical concepts, some of which have recently been reformulated thanks to the progress of paleogenomics (ancestral inheritance of the current human immune system, paleo-microbiology, host-pathogen relationship…).
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Affiliation(s)
- Philippe Charlier
- UFR des sciences de la santé, université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), EA 4498, laboratoire droit des affaires et nouvelles technologies (DANTE), 2, avenue de la source de la Bièvre, 78180 Montigny-Le-Bretonneux, France - Centre d'accueil et de soins hospitaliers (CASH) et institut de la précarité et de l'exclusion sociale (IPES), 403, avenue de la République, 92000 Nanterre, France
| | - Yves Coppens
- Collège de France, 11, place Marcelin Berthelot, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Geneviève Héry-Arnaud
- Laboratoire universitaire de biodiversité et d'écologie microbienne (LUBEM)/bactériologie-virologie, faculté de médecine et des sciences et de la santé, 22, avenue Camille Desmoulins, 29238 Brest, France
| | - Jacques Hassin
- Centre d'accueil et de soins hospitaliers (CASH) et institut de la précarité et de l'exclusion sociale (IPES), 403, avenue de la République, 92000 Nanterre, France
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