Re: Becoming altricial/bi

Paul Crowley (Paul@crowleyp.demon.co.uk)
Sun, 08 Oct 95 14:40:52 GMT

In article <60.3147.7295.0N1F80B1@canrem.com>
j#d#.moore@canrem.com "J. Moore" writes:

<A lot of convoluted and obscurely worded prose - which is so
uncharacteristic that extraneous reasons must be supposed>

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?

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?

c) that when bipedalism was first established the mother/infant
pair could not have normally slept in the trees?

d) that prior to the use of fire, hominids could not normally
have slept on open ground?

Paul.