Bonobo, Pan Paniscus
Shares 'uniquely human' trait
Photo: Leon Harberkorn
The problem creationists have with trying to maintain the myth that humans are a special creation by citing uniquely human traits, is that science keeps on showing that these are not unique after all, and in fact support the idea of common origins.
One such 'uniquely human' trait was thought to be the adolescent growth spurt where children have a rapid increase in height soon after puberty. Now researchers led by Dr. Verena Behringe of the Endocrinology lab at the German Primate Center (DPZ), Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany, have shown that our closest relatives, bonobos, Pan paniscus, have a similar growth spurt at a similar stage in the development and that other primates may also have similar growth spurts.
The research is explained in a DPZ News release:
The team's findings are published in the online journal eLife, together with an eLife assessment:Parents with children in adolescence know this all too well: one minute "the little ones" are just up to your shoulder, and all of a sudden, they're growing over your head. Until now, it was assumed that such pubertal growth spurt in body length only occurs in humans, but not in other primates. A recently published study of the German Primate Center (DPZ) – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna has now investigated this widespread hypothesis in bonobos (Pan paniscus). The result: Pronounced, human-like growth in the adolescent years also exists in bonobos and presumably also in other monkeys. Thus, humans are less exceptional in this trait than previously thought (eLife).
A bonobo mother with an infant.
Photo: Verena Behringer
Silhouette of a bonobo. The area marked in red on the forearm was measured.
Figure: Verena Behringer
Until now, there has been a broad consensus that the human adolescent growth spurt in body length is evolutionarily unique and absent in other primates. However, such adolescent growth spurt occurs in many primate species in body weight, including humans. The study published in the journal “eLife” suspected and confirmed that the reason for this divergence could be methodological issues.
Mind the scale...
In their scientific work, the researchers used three approaches: They first outlined how scaling problems and incorrect comparisons between growth rates of body length (linear) and weight (volume) can lead to misleading interpretations, effectively comparing apples to oranges.
... leads to correct results
Subsequently, the research team applied a scale-corrected approach to an extensive dataset of 258 zoo-living bonobos. These data included weight and length growth, as well as several physiological markers related to growth and puberty.We found pronounced growth spurts in body weight and body length in both sexes. Weight and length growth curves corresponded with each other and with patterns of testosterone and IGFBP-3 levels that resemble adolescent hormone surges in humans.
Andreas Berghänel, first author
Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology (KLIVV)
University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
Re-interpretation of studies provides different insightsOur results underline the importance of taking scaling laws into account when interpreting growth curves in general. Furthermore, our data show that pronounced, human-like adolescent growth spurts in body weight and body length exist not only in bonobos, but probably also in many other non-human primates.
Dr Verena Behringer, senior author
Endocrinology Laboratory
German Primate Center
In a third step, data published in other studies on non-human primates were reinterpreted. The results showed that adolescent growth spurt in weight and length occurs not only in bonobos, but very likely also in other monkeys.
The study was conducted in cooperation with researchers from Odisee University of Applied Sciences, Antwerp Zoo Centre for Research and Conservation, the Antwerp University, the Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Anthropology and for Animal Behaviour, and the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Osnabrück. In addition, 19 zoos provided their data and contributed significantly to the success of the study.
AbstractAnd... Another 'uniquely human' trait, rather than being evidence for special creation, is shown to be evidence for evolutionary common origins. No wonder the creationist cult is hemorrhaging members as they grow up and realise what a childish cult they were fooled into joining.
Adolescent growth spurts (GS) 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 IGFBP-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.
Berghänel Andreas, Stevens Jeroen M.G., Hohmann Gottfried, Deschner Tobias, Behringer Verena (2023)eLife assessment
Adolescent length growth spurts in bonobos and other primates: Mind the scale
eLife 12:RP86635 https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.86635.1
Copyright: © 2023 The authors.
Published by eLife Sciences Publications Ltd. Open access.
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)
This valuable paper sheds new light on the growth trajectory of bonobos (Pan paniscus), with explicit contributions to discussions of the exclusivity of certain aspects of growth in modern humans, most specifically with respect to components of the adolescent growth spurt, which may be less human-specific among primates than presumed to this point. The results are solid, based on the largest sample ever considered in the study of bonobo growth and include both morphometric and endocrinological data. This work will be of interest to human evolutionary biologists, primatologists, and researchers studying the ontogeny and evolution of growth and development in general.
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