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Effects of Past Global Change on Life (1995) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 234-234

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From page 234...
... In fact, it was impossible for the large brain of Homo to evolve until obligate arboreal activity had been abandoned. This restriction related to the developmental mechanism by which the large brain evolved: extension into the postnatal interval of the high in utero rate of brain growth, which in all primates maintains brain weight at about 10~o of body weight.
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Key Terms

  • modern humans
  • arboreal activity
  • gracile australopithecines
  • brain growth
  • environmental changes

  • fossil record
  • postnatal interval
  • gracile australopithecine


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