title: Scaling of free-ranging primate energetics with body mass predicts low energy expenditure in humans.
abstract: Studies of how a mammal's daily energy expenditure scales with its body mass suggest that humans, whether Westerners, agro-pastoralists, or hunter-gatherers, all have much lower energy expenditures for their body mass than other mammals. However, non-human primates also differ from other mammals in several life history traits suggestive of low energy use. Judging by field metabolic rates of free-ranging strepsirhine and haplorhine primates with different lifestyle and body mass, estimated using doubly labeled water, primates have lower energy expenditure than other similar-sized eutherian mammals. Daily energy expenditure in humans fell along the regression line of non-human primates. The results suggest that thrifty energy use could be an ancient strategy of primates. Although physical activity is a major component of energy balance, our results suggest a need to revise the basis for establishing norms of energy expenditure in modern humans.
authors.affiliation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, UMR 7206-Eco-anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, 1 Avenue du Petit Château, 91800 Brunoy, France. Electronic address: simmen@mnhn.fr.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Simmen
authors.affiliation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, UMR 7206-Eco-anthropologie et Ethnologie, 43 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Darlu
authors.affiliation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, UMR 7206-Eco-anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, 1 Avenue du Petit Château, 91800 Brunoy, France.
authors.forename: Claude Marcel
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Hladik
authors.affiliation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, UMR 7206-Eco-anthropologie et Ethnologie, 43 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pasquet
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001481:Basal Metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D049628:Body Size / Q000502:physiology*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D011323:Primates / Q000502:physiology*; D012044:Regression Analysis
keywords: Doubly labeled water; Energy balance; Eutherian mammals; Field metabolic rate; Metabolic allometry; Obesity; Physical activity