2023-08-25 10:48:33
A bonobo mother with her calf – VERENA BEHRINGER
MADRID, 25 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Until now, there has been a broad consensus that the accelerated growth in body length in human adolescence it is evolutionarily unique and is absent in other primates.
However, such a growth spurt in adolescence occurs in many primate species in terms of body weight, including humans. A study published in eLife magazine suspected and confirms that the reason for this divergence could be methodological issues.
In their scientific work, the researchers used three approaches: first, they described how scaling problems and incorrect comparisons between growth rates of body length (linear) and weight (volume) can lead to misleading interpretations, effectively comparing apples to oranges.
The research team then applied a scale-corrected approach to a large data set of 258 bonobos living in zoos. These data included weight and length growth, as well as various physiologic markers related to growth and puberty.
“We found pronounced growth spurts in body weight and length in both sexes. The weight and length growth curves were consistent with each other and with patterns of testosterone and IGFBP-3 levels that resemble adolescent hormonal surges in humans. “, says it’s a statement first author Andreas Berghänel of the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology (KLIVV) at the University of Veterinary Medicine on the results.
In a third step, the data published in other studies on non-human primates were reinterpreted. The results showed that the accelerated growth in weight and length of adolescence occurs not only in bonobos, but very probably also in other monkeys.
“Our results underscore the importance of taking scaling laws into account when interpreting growth curves in general,” says Verena Behringer, a scientist at the Laboratory of Endocrinology at the German Primate Center and lead author of the paper. “Furthermore, our data show that not only in bonobos, but probably also in many other non-human primates, pronounced accelerations and similar to adolescent growth in weight and body length.
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