Re: Becoming altricial/bipedal
Alex Duncan (aduncan@mail.utexas.edu)
8 Oct 1995 19:40:06 GMT
In article <813163252snz@crowleyp.demon.co.uk> Paul Crowley,
Paul@crowleyp.demon.co.uk writes:
I hope Mr. Moore doesn't get upset at me answering a post aimed at him.
Do you ever get the feeling we're just lined up out here fighting each
other to be the next one to tell you how uneducated you are?
>Let me just focus on this statement:
>
>> then you see that the period we became altricial was the period
>> when we see longer post-natal infant development, and a large
>> degree of brain expansion -- 2.5 to 1.5 mya.
>
>Do you accept:
> a) that bipedalism can be dated before 3.0 mya?
Absolutely.
> b) that bipedalism, _on_its_own_, requires a degree of
> maternal care for the hominid infant which is quite different
> and far in excess of that needed by the pre-bipedal infant?
Absolutely not. See references posted in "tree-climbing homininds."
> c) that when bipedalism was first established the mother/infant
> pair could not have normally slept in the trees?
Absolutely not.
> d) that prior to the use of fire, hominids could not normally
> have slept on open ground?
Depends on where they were.
Alex Duncan
Dept. of Anthropology
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712-1086
512-471-4206
aduncan@mail.utexas.edu
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