The evolution of the human pelvis: changing adaptations to bipedalism, obstetrics and thermoregulation
| Autor: | Daniel Schmitt, Laura Tobias Gruss |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
Fossils
Adaptation Biological Parturition Encephalization Articles Anatomy Biology Thermoregulation Biological Evolution General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Pelvis medicine.anatomical_structure Human evolution Homo sapiens Brain size medicine Humans Female sense organs Bipedalism General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Gait Birth canal Body Temperature Regulation |
| Zdroj: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 370:20140063 |
| ISSN: | 1471-2970 0962-8436 |
| DOI: | 10.1098/rstb.2014.0063 |
| Popis: | The fossil record of the human pelvis reveals the selective priorities acting on hominin anatomy at different points in our evolutionary history, during which mechanical requirements for locomotion, childbirth and thermoregulation often conflicted. In our earliest upright ancestors, fundamental alterations of the pelvis compared with non-human primates facilitated bipedal walking. Further changes early in hominin evolution produced a platypelloid birth canal in a pelvis that was wide overall, with flaring ilia. This pelvic form was maintained over 3–4 Myr with only moderate changes in response to greater habitat diversity, changes in locomotor behaviour and increases in brain size. It was not untilHomo sapiensevolved in Africa and the Middle East 200 000 years ago that the narrow anatomically modern pelvis with a more circular birth canal emerged. This major change appears to reflect selective pressures for further increases in neonatal brain size and for a narrow body shape associated with heat dissipation in warm environments. The advent of the modern birth canal, the shape and alignment of which require fetal rotation during birth, allowed the earliest members of our species to deal obstetrically with increases in encephalization while maintaining a narrow body to meet thermoregulatory demands and enhance locomotor performance. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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