Titel (eng)

Evidence for adolescent length growth spurts in bonobos and other primates highlights the importance of scaling laws

Autor*in

Andreas Berghaenel   University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna

Verena Behringer   Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology / Leibniz Institute for Primate Research /

Tobias Deschner   Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology / University of Osnabrück

Jeroen M. G. Stevens   University of Antwerp / Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp / Odisee University of Applied Sciences

Gottfried Hohmann   Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology / Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour

Verlag

eLife Sciences Publications Ltd

Beschreibung (eng)

Adolescent growth spurts (GSs) in body length seem to be absent in non-human primates and are considered a distinct human trait. However, this distinction between present and absent length-GSs may reflect a mathematical artefact that makes it arbitrary. We first outline how scaling issues and inappropriate comparisons between length (linear) and weight (volume) growth rates result in misleading interpretations like the absence of length-GSs in non-human primates despite pronounced weight-GSs, or temporal delays between length- and weight-GSs. We then apply a scale-corrected approach to a comprehensive dataset on 258 zoo-housed bonobos that includes weight and length growth as well as several physiological markers related to growth and adolescence. We found pronounced GSs in body weight and length in both sexes. Weight and length growth trajectories corresponded with each other and with patterns of testosterone and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 3 levels, resembling adolescent GSs in humans. We further re-interpreted published data of non-human primates, which showed that aligned GSs in weight and length exist not only in bonobos. Altogether, our results emphasize the importance of considering scaling laws when interpreting growth curves in general, and further show that pronounced, human-like adolescent length-GSs exist in bonobos and probably also many other non-human primates.

Sprache des Objekts

Englisch

Datum

2023

Rechte

Dieses Werk bzw. dieser Inhalt steht unter einer
CC BY 4.0 - Creative Commons Namensnennung 4.0 International Lizenz.

CC BY 4.0 International

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Klassifikation

Animals; Artifacts; Female; Male; Pan paniscus; Phenotype; Primates; Testosterone

Mitglied in der/den Collection(s) (1)