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Primate energy expenditure and life history
Open accessAbstract
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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“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]
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“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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Metadata
- 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
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › 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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