RebelDad

Human Ancestors Were Good Dads

Posted on 19. Mar, 2010 by Brian Reid in research

OK: let’s forget about the fish.

Turning to much more interesting (and, perhaps, applicable) science, Evolution of Dad spotted this excellent piece on, um, the evolution of dads that stemmed from a publication in American Anthropolologist. As Discovery News put it:

Gettler’s hypothesis aims to explain a mystery anthropologists have long explored. When the Homo genus branched off from other ape descendants, it grew larger by increasing caloric intake and reducing energy expenditures. The largest energy expenditures found in primate species is child-bearing and rearing.

Yet even as our pre-human ancestors grew larger, the amount of time between pregnancies — known as the interbirth interval — actually grew shorter than their smaller ancient counterparts. Females began having more, rather than fewer, children.

Gettler said the shorter interbirth interval and the long period of child rearing characteristic in modern humans could have only happened with ancient dads lending a hand.

The story goes on to talk about the way that dads helped contribute to the brain growth seen in those early humans (it wasn’t just mom dropping knowledge on the kids). Needless to say, I’m tickled at the idea that humans couldn’t have become human without fathers stepping up and playing a major role in child development. It’s a reminder that the whole mom-stays-home, dad-goes-to-the-office-for-80-hours-a-week is a new invention and that dads have been involved for a long, long time.

Maybe I’ll have to rename the blog “CavemanDad.”