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Grandmothering and natural selection.
A Friederike Kachel1, L S Premo, Jean-Jacques Hublin
1Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. friederike_kachel@eva.mpg.de
Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|August 27, 2010
Summary
The grandmother hypothesis suggests older women
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Human evolution
- Reproductive biology
Background:
- Women uniquely outlive their reproductive years.
- The grandmother hypothesis links extended lifespan to inclusive fitness benefits from childcare.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test if grandmothering provides sufficient inclusive fitness benefits to explain extended human longevity.
- To investigate the role of allocare in human life history evolution.
Main Methods:
- Simulated population models were used to assess inclusive fitness benefits.
- Analysis focused on selection pressures on post-reproductive females.
Main Results:
- Inclusive fitness benefits from grandmothering were found to be too small to drive the evolution of longevity.
- Grandmothering can promote a shorter reproductive period by reducing weaning age.
Conclusions:
- Grandmothering is unlikely to be the primary driver of extended human lifespan.
- Allocare, including grandmothering, may have influenced other human life history traits like age at first birth and reproductive period length.
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