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Department of Human Evolutionary Biology Colloquium Series
“Brains, Babies, and Bipedalism: The Evolution of the Human Metabolic Strategy”
A Lecture by Dr. Herman Pontzer, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Hunter College, City University of New York
Humans have the largest brains, longest day ranges, and fastest reproduction among the living hominoids. In this talk I examine new data on daily metabolic energy expenditure from a broad range of human populations and from zoo and sanctuary populations of chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans, to test the hypothesis that humans’ unique metabolic demands are met through an evolved increase in energy throughput. Results indicate substantial metabolic diversity among hominoids, with humans exhibiting the greatest daily energy expenditures. Physical activity had a limited, non-linear effect on daily energy expenditure in both humans and apes, with diminishing effects at higher levels of activity. Instead, non-exercise physiological activity appears to play an important and underappreciated role in determining daily energy requirements, both within and between species. These results challenge longstanding reconstructions of human life history and brain evolution and suggest a new framework for understanding evolved energy requirements and metabolic health in humans and other apes.