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Early human meat eating led to early weaning and higher population growth
April, 26 2012
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Popular Archaeology
Study results suggest early human carnivory was correlated to early weaning, leading to increased population growth and spreading across the globe.
The results of a recent study conducted by a team of reseachers suggests that when early humans became meat-eaters, or carnivores, their changed diet allowed mothers to wean their offspring earlier, thus having more children and causing game-changing effects on population dynamics and the course of human evolution.
The researchers, from Lund University in Sweden and other institutions in Sweden and Germany, compared 67 species and genera from 12 mammalian orders, including humans and apes. They found a strong correlation between carnivory and earlier weaning. Generally, they observed that the young of all species stopped suckling when their brains developed to a certain stage. This stage was reached significantly sooner among groups that ate more meat. For example, humans, considered carnivores by definition, reached the stage far sooner than their ape cousins. Apes are herbivores or omnivores. "This must have had a crucial impact on human evolution," says Elia Psouni, study leader. The shorter interbith intervals, the researchers maintain, led to higher reproductive rates and population expansion, having a profound impact on evolutionary trends and development.
Previously, scientists have explained the relatively shorter breast-feeding or lactation periods of humans based on social and behavioral theories related to such things as parenting and family size.
"That humans seem to be so similar to other animals can of course be taken as provocative," Psouni says. "We like to think that culture makes us different as a species. But when it comes to breast-feeding and weaning, no social or cultural explanations are needed; for our species as a whole it is a question of simple biology."
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