title: The real females of human evolution.
abstract: When "woman-the-gatherer" was first proposed as a counter to "man-the-hunter," we were only beginning to understand the many faces of primate females. In ensuing decades we have learned about the skills and talents of female chimpanzees in tool using, hunting, and transmitting behaviors from one generation to the next as teachers, and across space as newcomers to neighboring communities. The perspective of evolutionary time highlights the continuity of female lives from the origin of mammals to the origin of Homo sapiens. The combination of behavioral, fossil, and archeological information aid in reconstructing key ingredients acquired by females along the way that contributed to the success of our species.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA. azihlman@ucsc.edu
authors.forename: Adrienne L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Zihlman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005260:Female; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008322:Mammals; D002679:Pan troglodytes; D012737:Sex Factors; D053001:Tool Use Behavior