Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Dunsworth HM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3458333 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Dunsworth Holly M HM Warrener Anna G AG Deacon Terrence T Ellison Peter T PT Pontzer Herman H
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20120829 38
The classic anthropological hypothesis known as the "obstetrical dilemma" is a well-known explanation for human altriciality, a condition that has significant implications for human social and behavioral evolution. The hypothesis holds that antagonistic selection for a large neonatal brain and a narrow, bipedal-adapted birth canal poses a problem for childbirth; the hominin "solution" is to truncate gestation, resulting in an altricial neonate. This explanation for human altriciality based on pe ...[more]