Primate energy expenditure and life history
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Significance: Measurements of daily energy expenditure indicate that primates, including humans, expend only half of the calories expected for mammals of similar body size. As energy expenditure is central to organismal biology, these results hold important implications for life history, evolutionary biology, and foraging ecology for primates and other mammals. Specifically, we show that primates’ remarkably low metabolic rates account for their distinctively slow rates of growth, reproduction, and aging.
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Humans and other primates have reduced TEEs for their body sizes, despite having BMRs consistent with those of other mammals.
“Pontzer et al. (43) recently showed that humans and other primates have reduced TEEs for their body sizes, despite having basal metabolic rates (BMRs) consistent with those of other mammals.”
From Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development (2014) · cites this paper as [43]
Slow rates of growth, reproduction, and aging among primates reflect their low total energy expenditure.
“It was recently suggested that slow rates of growth, reproduction, and aging among primates reflect their low total energy expenditure (61).”
From Emerging Adulthood, a Pre-adult Life-History Stage (2020) · cites this paper as [61]
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Edwards, W. I., Lonsdorf, E. V., & Pontzer, H. (2017) · American Journal of Primatology · doi:10.1002/ajp.22638 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Self-citationPlay behaviour by captive tree monitors, Varanus macraei and Varanus prasinus
Kane, D. (2019) · Herpetological Bulletin · doi:10.33256/hb149.2831 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Mothers and fathers improve immature baboon foraging success
Lynch, E. C., Johnson, C. A., Lynch, R., Rothman, J. M., Fiore, A. D., & Palombit, R. A. (2020) · Behaviour · doi:10.1163/1568539x-bja10006 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
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Early life drought predicts components of adult body size in wild female baboons
Levy, E. J., Lee, A., Siodi, I. L., Helmich, E. C., McLean, E. M., Malone, E. J., Pickard, M. J., Ranjithkumar, R., Tung, J., Archie, E. A., et al. (2023) · American Journal of Biological Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.24849 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Scaling of free-ranging primate energetics with body mass predicts low energy expenditure in humans
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Seasonal variation of energy expenditure in Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata)
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Proximate and evolutionary sources of variation in offspring energy expenditure in songbirds
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Evolutionary Specializations of Human Brain Microstructure
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Energy constraint on human health
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- Authors
- Pontzer, H., Raichlen, D. A., Gordon, A. D., Schroepfer-Walker, K. K., Hare, B., O’Neill, M. C., Muldoon, K. M., Dunsworth, H. M., Wood, B. M., Isler, K., Burkart, J., Irwin, M., Shumaker, R. W., Lonsdorf, E. V., & Ross, S. R.
- Affiliations
- Hunter College (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- University at Albany, State University of New York (US)
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708;
- Duke University (US)
- Stony Brook School (US)
- Dartmouth College (US)
- University of Rhode Island (US)
- Yale University (US)
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Northern Illinois University (US)
- Indianapolis Zoo (US)
- Franklin & Marshall College (US)
- Lincoln Park Zoo (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2014-01-13
- Volume
- 111
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1433-1437
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC3910615
- OpenAlex
- W2101391314
- Cited by
- 165
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 6
- FWCI
- 26.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
- Journal of Media Literacy Education (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- The 82nd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Knoxville, Tennessee
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0850815)
- National Geographic Society
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Physiological and biochemical adaptations
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Keywords
- total energy expenditure, primate life history, slow growth, maximum lifespan, somatic investment, brain development, metabolic adaptation, cross-species comparison, placental mammals, physical activity
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Basal Metabolism, Energy Metabolism, Humans, Life Cycle Stages, Primates
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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