http://primatology.net/2010/01/30/macaques-like-to-keep-their-conversations-short/ We ain’t monkeyin’ around here. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:32:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://primatology.net/2010/01/30/macaques-like-to-keep-their-conversations-short/#comment-12371 Fri, 07 Jan 2011 04:09:50 +0000 http://primatology.net/?p=665#comment-12371 [...] There is an interesting write-up on a recent hypothesis by Professor Wheeler that cooking food may have led to an increase in brain size. The essence of the argument is that cooking reduces the amount of energy needed to digest food. In moving from Austrolopithecus to Homo Erectus and Homo Habilis there was a reduction in the size of the intestines and an increase in brain volume. The argument is that these anatomical changes were causally related to corresponding behavioural changes which enabled a significantly higher proportion of the body’s resources (i.e energy) to be allocated to the brain. Indeed this has been the subject of a Horizon programme which is available for a limited time here. There’s another interesting write-up, this time of a conference examining the ‘Origins of Human Uniqueness and Behavioural Modernity’. Discussion took place around a number of subjects including the possible role of gifts and adornements particularly in the role of signalling social status. The Primatology blog has a look at a recent study on the length of Macaque ‘conversations’. [...]

]]> http://primatology.net/2010/01/30/macaques-like-to-keep-their-conversations-short/#comment-10936 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:11:52 +0000 http://primatology.net/?p=665#comment-10936 [...] The Primatology blog has a look at a recent study on the length of Macaque ‘conversations’. [...]

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