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Gestation length, metabolic rate, and body and brain weights in primates: Epigenetic effects
Author(s) -
Little Bertis B.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330800209
Subject(s) - gestation , epigenetics , biology , primate , brain size , physiology , evolutionary biology , zoology , neuroscience , medicine , genetics , pregnancy , gene , radiology , magnetic resonance imaging
The relationship of brain and body weights can be expressed in log‐log regression: log (brain weight) = log (A) + B log (body weight). To investigate further the weights' similarity, gestation length and brain and body weights were determined from the literature for 46 primate genera. The results of allometric and path regression analyses suggest that the relationship between brain and body weights may not be mainly pleiotropic in the order Primates. The correlation between brain and body weights appears to be due to epigenetic factors in hyperplastic growth related to time constraint by gestation length and to energy utilization limitations imposed by metabolic rate.