Departments of Anthropology and Cell Biology and Anatomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
Am J Primatol. 1985;8(2):183-188. doi: 10.1002/ajp.1350080208.
The relationship between the growth spurt and the onset of sexual maturity is problematic in nonhuman primates. Growth data on the cranium and postcranium of dentally aged pygmy chimpanzees, common chimpanzees, and gorillas are reported here. In all three species, male means generally exceed female means throughout growth, with the exception that females exhibit a spurt during one dental-age stage when they become generally larger than the males. This female spurt occurs earlier in an absolute and relative sense in the gorillas than the chimpanzees. These growth data support field and laboratory observations suggesting that female gorillas become sexually mature earlier than do female chimpanzees. Gorillas are thus characterized by a greater degree of "sexual bimaturism" than are the chimpanzees. Implications of these differences in terms of size dimorphism, mating systems, and morphology are discussed.
在非人类灵长类动物中，生长突增和性成熟的开始之间的关系是有问题的。本文报告了齿龄的侏儒黑猩猩、普通黑猩猩和大猩猩的颅骨和颅后骨骼的生长数据。在这三个物种中，雄性的平均值通常在整个生长过程中超过雌性，除了在一个牙齿年龄阶段，雌性的平均值会突然增大，普遍比雄性大。这种雌性突增在大猩猩中比在黑猩猩中更早地发生，无论是从绝对还是相对的角度来看都是如此。这些生长数据支持了野外和实验室的观察结果，即雌性大猩猩比雌性黑猩猩更早地达到性成熟。因此，大猩猩比黑猩猩具有更大程度的“性双态性”。本文讨论了这些差异在体型二态性、交配系统和形态学方面的意义。
