Neoteny in Humans

...the concept of "neoteny"—the retention of juvenile features into adult life. It is a commonplace of human evolution that the transition from Australopithecus to Homo and from Homo habilis to Homo erectus and thence to Homo sapiens all involved prolonging and slowing the development of the body so that it still looked like a baby when it was already mature. The relatively large brain case and small jaw, the slender limbs, the hairless skin, the unrotated big toe, the thin bones, even the external female genitalia—we look like baby apes.

The skull of a baby chimpanzee looks much more like the skull of an adult human being than either the skull of an adult chimpanzee or the skull of a baby human being. Turning an apeman into a man was a simple matter of changing the genes that affect the rate of development of adult characters, so that by the time we stop growing and start breeding, we still look rather like a baby. "Man is born and remains more immature and for a longer period than any other animal," wrote Ashley Montagu in 1961.

The evidence for neoteny is extensive. Human teeth erupt through the jaw in a set order: the first molar at the age of six, compared with three for a chimp. This pattern is a good indication of all sorts of other things because the teeth must come at just the right moment relative to the growth of the jaw. Holly Smith, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan, found in twenty-one species of primate a close correlation between the age at which the first molar erupted and body weight, length of gestation, age at weaning, birth interval, sexual maturity, life span, and especially brain size. Because she knew the brain size of fossil hominids, she was able to predict that Lucy would have erupted her first molar at three and lived to forty, much like chimpanzees, whereas the average Homo erectus would have erupted his at nearly five and lived to fifty-two.

Notes:

Adult humans look like baby chimpanzees

Folksonomies: evolution neoteny

Taxonomies:
/travel/tourist destinations/africa (0.544148)
/health and fitness/alternative medicine/homeopathy (0.316378)
/style and fashion/body art (0.283708)

Keywords:
Homo erectus (0.942611 (positive:0.066023)), average Homo erectus (0.864097 (negative:-0.225592)), Humans Adult humans (0.791148 (positive:0.235857)), unrotated big toe (0.739002 (negative:-0.209411)), relatively large brain (0.737272 (neutral:0.000000)), especially brain size (0.689534 (neutral:0.000000)), baby chimpanzees (0.612135 (positive:0.235857)), small jaw (0.592444 (neutral:0.000000)), baby chimpanzee (0.578180 (neutral:0.000000)), adult chimpanzee (0.571739 (neutral:0.000000)), slender limbs (0.561265 (negative:-0.262949)), adult life (0.559382 (negative:-0.404779)), human evolution (0.556175 (positive:0.291615)), juvenile features (0.556070 (negative:-0.404779)), baby apes (0.550590 (neutral:0.000000)), hairless skin (0.547709 (neutral:0.000000)), Ashley Montagu (0.543781 (neutral:0.000000)), Human teeth (0.534637 (negative:-0.252138)), adult characters (0.532235 (neutral:0.000000)), external female (0.528559 (neutral:0.000000)), sexual maturity (0.525651 (positive:0.329567)), birth interval (0.525542 (neutral:0.000000)), simple matter (0.523013 (neutral:0.000000)), fossil hominids (0.523003 (neutral:0.000000)), good indication (0.520250 (positive:0.805997)), close correlation (0.519915 (negative:-0.335821)), longer period (0.519642 (negative:-0.613303)), Holly Smith (0.519117 (negative:-0.262519)), life span (0.515840 (neutral:0.000000)), set order (0.515664 (negative:-0.252138))

Entities:
Homo sapiens:FieldTerminology (0.854589 (positive:0.291615)), Ashley Montagu:Person (0.497867 (neutral:0.000000)), Lucy:Person (0.471505 (negative:-0.351252)), Holly Smith:Person (0.426905 (negative:-0.262519)), University of Michigan:Organization (0.413106 (neutral:0.000000))

Concepts:
Human (0.947929): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Chimpanzee (0.827477): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Hominidae (0.718210): dbpedia | freebase
Human evolution (0.662868): dbpedia | freebase
Primate (0.535481): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Gorilla (0.516596): website | dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Common Chimpanzee (0.511434): dbpedia | yago
Bonobo (0.488635): dbpedia | freebase

 The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Ridley , Matt (2003-05-01), The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature, Harper Perennial, Retrieved on 2011-05-03
Folksonomies: evolution culture sex evolutionary psychology


Triples

18 FEB 2015

 Human Neoteny and Cognition

Neoteny in Humans > Similarity > Cognitive Neoteny in Modern Humans
 
Folksonomies: evolution cognition neoteny
Folksonomies: evolution cognition neoteny


Schemas

17 FEB 2015

 Evolving Learners: Education as Artificial Selection

If brains learn by pruning neurons that serve no purpose, the educators are pruners/encouragers of neurons. We should look at them as artificially selecting neurons in students.
 9