Re: Why Grandpas are More Fun than Grandmas
Joking apart, there is now a huge body of evidence for the role of Grandparenting in human evolution - kin-selection, or whatever one wished to call it. Because of the enormous maternal effort reuired to raise human babies - largely as a result of the encephalisation process, and being born so underdeveloped, the Mum is essentially removed from the workforce of food gathering etc for many years. Thus, the post menopausal women (AKA Granny) evolved, to look after the brats so that Mum could get back to being productive, food gathering etc. Homo is the only animal to have a post-menopausal state, and biologically it makes no sense, unless viewed in this light. As for Grandpa? Well, draw your own conclusions! Rob
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Honorary Research Associate, Institute for Human Evolution, University of Witwatersrand
Adjunct Associate Professor (Human and Comparative Anatomy), University of Western Sydney
Fellow of The Centre For Human Biology, The University of Western Australia
"Please God, deliver me whole from Creationists......."
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