Why did primates evolved larger brains
How modern primates developed large brains.In many respects, the main problem associated with understanding why large brains have evolved has been the fact that there is an embarrassment of riches:It may be that these early specializations allowed primate brains to expand later in time, said harrington, the study's lead author.Details of the findings are described online in the journal of human evolution.By the time our species, homo sapiens, emerged about 200,000 years ago, the human brain had swelled from about 350 grams to more than 1,300 grams.
For the past 20 years, the social brain hypothesis has been the prevailing explanation, suggesting that big brains evolved in some species to facilitate complex social interactions.How modern primates developed large brains.Very likely, fruit eating and social living caused primates to evolve a greater degree of intelligence than other animals.New study sheds light on evolution of human, ape intelligence.The bigger the social group, the more complex the social interactions, leading to the evolution of larger brains with more computing power, the theory suggests.previous studies have shown that larger groups of primates with more complex social structures are correlated with larger brains.mar 28, 2017
Douglas fox is a freelance journalist.Why and how did these large brains come to be?