Social pressures have selected for an extended juvenile period in primates.
Primates are highly social animals. As such, they utilize a large repertoire of social skills to manage their complex and dynamic social environments. In order to acquire complex social skills, primates require an extended learning period. Here 1 perform a comparative analysis using independent contrasts to show that social pressures have favored an extension in the proportion of time primates spend as juveniles.
Joffe
T H
TH
Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, U.K.
D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development; D007858:Learning; D008017:Life Expectancy; D011323:Primates / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D012741:Sexual Maturation; D012919:Social Behavior; D013045:Species Specificity