Question 1 Which of the following is true according to the expensive tissue hypothesis? Meat consumption almost entirely replaced plant consumption Height decreased as a result of the shortening of our gut Gut size decreased in order to facilitate an increase in our brain size Brain size decreased as less brain tissue was needed for cognitive functions Jaw size increased due to an increase in meat consumption See the Evolution of the Human Diet lecture
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This shift allowed for a reduction in gut size (which is metabolically expensive to maintain), freeing up energy that could be allocated to the development of a larger brain. Show more…
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We have discussed the role of meat consumption in hominin evolution as an important source of fuel for our oversized and metabolically costly brain. Do you think the expensive tissue hypothesis has merit? Why or why not? Can you think of any alternative hypotheses to explain the trend towards larger brain size over the past 2.5 million years?
Madhur L.
Brain sizes, creation, bipedalism, hunting, increased plant and animal protein, development, following from stone tools diet first to thing.
One important adaptive trend within the australopithecines (Australopithecus and Paranthropus) is the trend of increasing cheek tooth size over time. However, the genus Homo exhibits the opposite trend, with decreasing cheek tooth size over time from Homo habilis to modern humans. What is a plausible explanation for this? There was an increased reliance on stone tools and other cultural methods of food processing in Homo. This relaxed the selective pressure for large teeth, so that molar size decreased over time. The australopithecines relied on soft fruits more than the earliest Homo. The big cheek teeth in australopithecines allowed them to process more fruits at a time, making them more efficient. The australopithecines increasingly cracked bones between their teeth over time. This allowed them to eat animals that they scavenged from carnivores. The species of Homo have generally been smaller in body size than the australopithecine species, so it is not surprising that Homo species would have smaller cheek tooth sizes.
Sandra L.
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