Re: Bipedalism and theorizing... was Re: Morgan and creationists
Gerrit Hanenburg (ghanenbu@inter.nl.net)
Tue, 9 Jul 1996 21:01:30 GMT
karen@uab.edu (Karen ) wrote:
>I do think that the enlarged breasts could have something
>to do with a benefit for h.s.s. infants. I am not sure exactly what,
>it would help if we knew just when breasts became enlarged.
>I have to admit that I like Elaine Morgans' just so story about them
>better than the usual 'breasts enlarged to aid in sexual selection'
>theory! But then, I am female and would rather think that anyway!
How are the enlarged breasts differentiated as far as tissue is
concerned? Is the enlargement mainly caused by an increase of fat
tissue,glandular tissue or both?
Maybe human females have enlarged breasts for trophic reasons.
Human infants are the only primates that continue the high rate of
intra-uterine braingrowth after birth,with the result that a one year
old child has a brain twice the size of an adult chimpanzee.
To grow and maintain such a large brain the child needs a large supply
of high quality food:mother's milk.
I wouldn't be surprised if large breasts are intimitely related to
large brains for mainly trophic reasons.
Gerrit.
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